


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 







































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A SERIES TO EMBRACE EVERY STATE IN THE UNION. 




THE VOTERS' HAND-BOOK 


OF 



CONSTITUTIONS' 

OF THE 



AND OF THE 

STATE OF MISSOURI. 


COPYRIGHTED FOR EACH SEPARATE STATE. 


SAINT LOUIS, MO.: 

Till; CONST1TI TION FI MIJSII1N<; COMPANY. 

1881 . • 





























A SERIES TO EMBRACE EVERY STATE IN THE UNION. 




VOTERS' HAND-BOOK 


National and Separate State Constitutions Combined, 


CONSTITUTIONS 


OF THE 

UNITED STATES 


AND OF THE 


STATE OF MISSOURI. 



COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY SHERMAN SPENCER, 



ST. LOUIS, iivno. 




COPYRIGHTED FOR EACH SEPARATE STATE. 


1. Preface. 


GOJSrTBNTTS. 

2. Introduction. 3. Declaration of Independence, 
of the United States. 5. Constitution of Missouri. 


4 . Constitution^ * 




PY RIGHT. 


1 O 0 1 


SAINT LOUIS, MO.: 


// L’ *3 H * i ' ] 


X : 7 v 

THE CONSTITUTION PUBLISHING COMPANY. 


ir ,o*; 










Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by 
SHERMAN SPENCER, 

In the Office of tine Librarian of Congress at Washington. 


/ 







PREFACE. 


The necessity for a more extensive dissemination of the principles 
on which our government is founded, is every day becoming more 
apparent to every thoughtful, intelligent person. 

We have no means of determining accurately how large a propor¬ 
tion of voters in the United States have read both Constitutions— 
the National, and the one enacted by their own State. We appre¬ 
hend the number is dangerously large of those who have not read 
either one of them. Reliable statistics from the census show that 
illiteracy is very prevalent in many portions of the country. Of 
those Avho can read and write, how many claim ownership (we mean 
of those entrusted with the right to wield the ballot) of a copy of 
the Constitution of the United States and of their own State? 
Probably not five per cent of our voters have read both. And why 
not? In answer we reply because the opportunity has not been 
given them. The number of copies of each of these all important 
documents within the reach of the people, bears no adequate propor¬ 
tion to the numerical strength of the voting population. 

Hitherto private enterprise has not, to any adequate extent, under¬ 
taken the task of supplying the demand for these Constitutions, 
from the fact that there was not seen any plan by which it could be 
made sufficiently remunerative. 

Unquestionably the benefits that would accrue, both to the indi¬ 
vidual citizen and to society at large, by a frequent reading and 
careful study of these Constitutions, will not be controverted. 

These are patent, we might say, as axiomatic truth. This impor¬ 
tant compilation, now brought within the reach of every voter, is 
designed to meet a great public and pressing necessity ; and a very 
brief examination of this work will, we believe, commend it so 
strongly and universallv that multitudes of our fellow citizens, we 
hope reaching the millions , for whose welfare it has been prepared, 
will now secure it for themselves and their children. 

Respectfully, 


SHERMAN SPENCER 

















■ 






u 







The Author's Address to the Ten Millions of Voters in 
the United States, and the Many Millions Who Expect 
to Gain the Franchise: 

To awaken thought, to incite investigation, and to carry into 
execution any improved plans which such reflection and study may 
evolve in regard to our political fabric, its theories and its machinery, 
is my motive for presenting to my fellow citizens an 

introductory address, 

In connection with placing within their reach the primal or funda¬ 
mental groundwork of our institutions, based on National and State 
Constitutions. 

There is an aphorism which tells us that “Reading makes a full 
man ; conversation makes a ready man, and writing makes a correct 
man.” Let me apply this proverb to the “Combined Constitutions,” 
and let every one who becomes the owner of this book not rest 
satisfied with a cursory glance at its contents. Matters of great 
importance to every American citizeu are contained in these political 
scriptures—these National and State testaments. 

After reading , discuss them with your family, your neighbors, and 
acquaintances. 

The principles herein formulated are vital. Ascertain the great 
powers the government claims over the person and property of the 
citizen ; the rights the citizen yields to the government. Then let 
the reader individualize and say : “I am a part of the government. 
“ I am one of the people. The preamble to the United States 
“ Constitution asserts that its adoption is to promote the welfare of 
“ the people of which /am one. How do I become a part of the 
“ government? I am only a private citizen ; I never held or aspired 
“ to hold an ofiice. True; but I do help to make the government 
“ what it is or will be, an engine of tyranny and oppression, or a 


INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 


<; 


“ potent benefactor, promoting my own happiness and that of all 
“ my fellow citizens.” 

This power of the Ballot! What a tremendous influence it has 
for weal or woe. Has it not too often been used bv ignorant or 
thoughtless voters and the result proved disastrous? 

Acquaint yourselves, I beg of you, fellow citizens, with the prin¬ 
ciples of our government, and with the management of our affairs. 
I ask you to be patriots rather than partisans. I ask you, as you 
love liberty, and as you feel you may be held accountable for your 
action or your neglect, to become careful students of these docu¬ 
ments. Do independent thinking on your own account, while you 
make yourself thoroughly familiar with these great questions of 
public policy, which you will find, by a study of the birth and growth 
of our nation, are frequently new. 

When you hear persons declare certain measures proposed, to be 
“unconstitutional ,” read the section or clause on which the discussion 
arises, and learn for yourself whether this be so. 

Comparatively few persons know or remember what is or not laid 
down in our Constitutions. This need be so no longer. These 
Constitutions are often falsety quoted or wrongly interpreted and 
commented on. 

When you find that such is the case, if no one else comes forward 
to reply and show the falsehood or fallacy of such misrepresentation, 
does it not become your duty to do this, my fellow citizen in private 
life—to come to the rescue? Write for the press on constitutional 
interpretation from your standpoint of investigation, and do not fear, 
when you feel you are right and others wrong, to criticise even the 
opinions and rulings of the Supreme Court. 

Extend the result of your investigation, the benefits of your 
education, to all within the range of your influence. Do not refuse 
to listen to political opponents and learn their views. Possibly 
they may have read more extensively on the subject and understand 
matters from a wider range of investigation than you have given. 
If they convince you of error, retract, change your views. “ Be 
sure you are right, then go ahead.” 

Be patient, it takes time ; be persevering, and you will attain a 
great reward. Never imagine that your education in this direction 
has been finished. You will find as you advance that these topics of 
governmental science are not dry, uninteresting reading. They are 
of primary importance and strengthen our intellectual powers. 






INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 


7 


The number of books which have been written on Constitutional 
interpretation, commentaries, and political hand-books, are neither 
numerous nor as widely circulated as they ought to be. 

Few American authors have written with the skill and ability 
which the profound statesman and philosopher De Tocqueville did 
concerning our institutions and constitutions over forty years ago. 
For those who desire to extend their studies on this subject beyond 
the present volume, I shall annex a list of books, from which the 
reader can select such works for reference as will bear on the special 
line of thought on which he wishes to pursue his inquiries. I trust 
the number that will be led to further investigation after reading 
this primary work will be very large, and that the atmosphere of 
partisan politics may in consequence be purified. 

Truly God has been good to us and given to us a goodly heritage.. 
Our talents, our opportunities, our advantages are unrivaled. 

Let us, by a careful study of these fundamental safeguards, on 
which our growth, prosperity, and happiness depend, become a 
blessing to ourselves and to our posterity. 

Your Friend and Fellow Citizen, 

SHERMAN SPENCER. 


LIST OF AUTHORS AND BOOKS ON CONSTITUTIONS, COMMENTARIES, HISTORIES,. 

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMY. 


American Archives. 

American State Papers. 

Annals of Congress. 

Andrews—Manual of the Constitution. 
Burleigh—American Manual. 

Bentham, Jeremy. 

Carey, H. C. 

Chalmers, Thomas. 

Cluskey—Political Text Books. 

Congressional Globe. 

Congressional Record. 

Curtis, George Ticknor—History of the Con¬ 
stitution of the United States. 

Duer, W. A.—Constitutional Jurisprudence of 
the United States. 

De Tocqueville—Democracy in America. 
Hickey, W. — Constitution of the United 
States, etc. 

Hart, John—Constitution of the United States. 
Hopkins, John Henry—The American Citizen, 
His Rights and Duties. 


Mansfield’s Political Grammar of the United 
States. 

Malthus, T. R. 

McCulloch, J. R. 

Mill, J. S. 

Mulford—The Nation. 

Potter, Alonzo. 

Say. 

Story, Joseph—Commentaries on the Consti¬ 
tution of the United States. 

Sullivan—Political Class Book. 

Sheppard—Constitutional Text Book. 

Townsend—Analysis of the Constitution of 
the United States. 

Towle—History and Analysis of Constitution^ 
of United States. 

Ware. 

Wayland, Francis—Political Economy. 

Williams, Edwin—Statesman’s Manual. 






I 




THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE —1776*. 


In Congress, July 4. 1776. 


The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America . 

120 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for 
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected 
them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, 
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of 
Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of man¬ 
kind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them 
to the separation. 


*The delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire; Massachusetts 
Bay; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; Connecticut; New York; 
New Jersey; Pennsylvania; New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, in Delaware; 
Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina, and South Carolina, in Congress 
assembled at Philadelphia, Resolved on the 10th of May, 1776, to recommend 
to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where 
no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs had been estab¬ 
lished. to adopt such a government as should, in the opinion of the repre¬ 
sentatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their 
constituents in particular, and of America in general. A preamble to this 
resolution, agreed to on the 15th of May, stated the intention to be totally 
to suppress the exercise of every kind of authority under the British crown. 
On the 7th of June, certain resolutions respecting independency were 
moved and seconded. On the 10th of June it was resolved, that a commit¬ 
tee should be appointed to prepare a declaration to the following effect: 

That the United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde¬ 
pendent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of 
Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” On the preceding day 
it was determined that the committee for preparing the declaration should 
consist of five, and they were chosen accordingly, in the following order: 
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. J. Adams, Mr Franklin, Mr. Sherman, Mr. R. R. Liv¬ 
ingston. On the 11th of June a resolution was passed to appoint a com¬ 
mittee to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into 
between the colonies, and another committee to prepare a plan of treaties 








10 


THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF 


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien¬ 
able Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of 
Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted 
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destruc¬ 
tive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to 
abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on 
such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them 
shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Pru¬ 
dence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should 
not be changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all 
experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, 
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the 
forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of 
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces 


to be proposed to foreign powers. On the 12th of June, it was resolved, 
that a committee of Congress should be appointed by the name of a board 
of war and ordinance, to consist of five members. On the 25th of June, a 
declaration of the deputies of Pennsylvania, met in provincial conference, 
expressing their willingness to concur in a vote declaring the United Colo¬ 
nies free and independent States, was laid before Congress and read. On 
the 28th of June, the committee appointed to prepare a declaration of 
independence brought in a draught, which was read, and ordered to lie 
on the table. On the 1st of July, a resolution of the convention of Mary¬ 
land, passed the 28th of June, authorizing the deputies of that colony to 
concur in declaring the United Colonies free and independent States, 
was laid before Congress and read. On the same day Congress resolved 
itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration the resolu¬ 
tion respecting independency. On the 2nd of July, a resolution declaring 
the colonies free and independent States, was adopted. A declaration to 
that effect was, on the same and the following days, taken into further 
consideration. Finally, on the 4th of July, the Declaration of Independence 
was agreed to, engrossed on paper, signed by John Hancock as president, 
and directed to be sent to the several assemblies, conventions, and com¬ 
mittees, or councils of safety, and to the several commanding officers of 
the continental troops, and to be proclaimed in each of the United States, 
and at the head of the Army. It was also ordered to be entered upon the 
Journals of Congress, and on the second of August, a copy engrossed on 
parchment was signed by all but one of the fifty-six signers whose names 
are appended to it. That one was Matthew Thornton, of New Hampshire, 
who on taking his seat in November asked and obtained the privilege of 
signing it. Several who signed it on the 2d of August were absent when it 
was adopted on the 4th of July, but, approving of it, they thus signified 
their approbation. 

Note. —The proof of this document, as published above, was read 
by Mr. Ferdinand Jefferson, the Keeper of the Rolls at the Department 
of State, at Washington, who compared it with the fac-simile of the 
original in his custody. He says: “ In the fac-simile, as in the original, 

the whole instrument runs on without a break, but dashes are mostly 
inserted. I have, in this copy, followed the arrangement of paragraphs 
adopted in the publication of the Declaration in the newspaper of John 
Dunlap, and as printed by him for the Congress, which printed copy is 
inserted in the original Journal of the old Congress. The same para¬ 
graphs are also made by the author, in the original draught preserved 
in the Department of State.” 








THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA- 1776 


11 


a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, 
it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new 
Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient suffer¬ 
ance ot these Colonies ; and such is now the necessity wlrch con¬ 
strains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The 
history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 
of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts 
be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and 
necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his 
Assent should be obtained ; and when so suspended, he has utterly 
neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and 
formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncom¬ 
fortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, 
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his 
measures. 

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing 
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause 
others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of 
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise ; 
the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of 
invasion from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for 
that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; 
refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and 
raising the conditions of New Appropriations of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his 
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure 
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms 
of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among 11s, in times of peace, Standing Armies with¬ 
out the Consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior 
to the Civil Power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his 
Assent to their acts of pretended Legislation : 





12 


THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF 


For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any 
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these 
States : 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: 

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent: 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended 
offences: 

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring 
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarg¬ 
ing its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instru¬ 
ment for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies : 

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, 
and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Government: 

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves 
invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his 
Protection and waging War against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, 
and destroyed th'e lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercen¬ 
aries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, 
already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely 
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the 
Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high 
Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners 
of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeav¬ 
ored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, tire merciless 
Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished 
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for 
Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have 
been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character 
is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to 
be the ruler of a free People. 

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. 
We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legis¬ 
lature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have 
reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settle¬ 
ment here. We have appealed co their native justice and magnan¬ 
imity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common 
kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably inter¬ 
rupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf 
to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, 









THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA- 1776 


13 


acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold 
them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace 
Friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of 
America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme 
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the 
Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, 
solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and 
of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are 
Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all 
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is 
and ought to be totally dissolved ; and that as Free and Independent 
States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract 
Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things 
which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of 
this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine 
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our For¬ 
tunes and our sacred Honor. JOHN HANCOCK. 


New Hampshire. 


Josiah Bartlett, Matthew Thornton. 

Wm. Whipple, 

Mas sackusetts Hay. 

Saml. Adams, Robt. Treat Paine, 

John Adams, Elbridge Gerry. 

Step. Hopkins, 

Rhode Island. 

William Ellery. 

Roger Sherman, 

Sam’el Huntington, 

Connecticut. 

Wm. Williams, 
Oliver Wolcott. 

Wm. Floyd, 

Phil. Livingston, 

New York . 

Frans. Lewis, . 
Lewis Morris. 

Richd. Stockton, 

Jn o . W itherspoon , 
Fras. Hopkinson, 

New Jersey. 

John Hart, 

A bra. Clark. 

Robt. Morris, 
Benjamin Rush, 

Benja . Franklin , 
John Morton, 

Geo. Clymer, 

Pennsylvania . 

Jas. Smith, 

Geo. Taylor, 

James Wilson, 

Geo. Ross. 










14 


THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE- 1776 . 


Delaware. 

Caesar Rodney, Tho. M’Ivean. 

Geo. Read, 


Maryland. 

Samuel Chase, Thos. Stone, 

Wm. Paca, Charles Carroll, of Car¬ 

rollton. 

Virginia. 

George Wythe, Thos. Nelson, ji\, 

Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, 

Th. Jefferson, Carter Braxton. 

Ben.ja. Harrison, 

North Carolina. 

Wm. Hooper, John Penn. 

Joseph ITewes, 

South Carolina. 


Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, Junr., 

Thos. Heyward, Junr., Arthur Middleton. 


Georgia. 

Button Gwinnett, Geo. Walton. 

Lyman Hall, 


Note.—M r. Ferdinand Jefferson, Keeper of the Rolls in the Depart¬ 
ment of State, at Washington, says: u Tlie names of the signers are 
spelt above as in the fac-simile of the original, but the punctuation of 
them is not always the same: neither does the names of the States appear 
in the fac-simile of the original. The names of the signers of each State 
are grouped together in the fac-simile of the original, except the name 
Matthew Thornton, which follows that of Oliver Wolcott.” 











CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES—1787.* 


We THE People of the United States, in Order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, 
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Pos- 
teritv, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America. 

Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dali., 410; McCulloch v. State of Maryland, 
4 Wh., 316; Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wh., 419; Barron v. The Mayor 
and City Council of Baltimore. 7 Pet.. 243; Lane County v. Oregon, 7 
Wall., 71; Texas v. White et al., 7 Wall, 700. 


*In May. 1785, a committee of Congress made a report recommending an 
alteration in the Articles of Confederation, but no action was taken on it, 
and it was left to the State Legislatures to proceed in the matter. In Jan¬ 
uary, 1786, the Legislature of Virginia passed a resolution providing for the 
appointment of live commissioners, who. or any three of them, should meet 
such commissioners as might be appointed in the other States of the Union, 
at a time and place to be agreed upon, to take into consideration the trade 
of the United States; to consider how far a uniform system in their com¬ 
mercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their 
permanent harmony; and to report to the several States such an act, rela¬ 
tive to this great object, as, when ratified by them, will enable the United 
States in Congress effectually to provide for the same. The Virginia com¬ 
missioners, after some correspondence, fixed the first Monday in September 
as the time, and the city of Annapolis as the place for the meeting, but 
only four other States were represented, viz: Delaware, New York, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the commissioners appointed by Massachusetts. 
New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island failed to attend. Under 
the circumstances of so partial a representation, the commissioners present 
agreed upon a report, (drawn by Mr. Hamilton, of New York), expressing 
their unanimous conviction that it might essentially tend to advance the 
interests of the Union if the States b} r which they were respectively dele¬ 
gated would concur, and use their endeavors to procure the concurrence of 
the other States, in the appointment of commissioners to meet at Philadel¬ 
phia on the second Monday of May following, to take into consideration 
the situation of the United States; to devise such further provisions as 
should appear to them necesary to render the Constitution of the Federal 
Government adequate to the exigencies of rhe Union; and to report such 
an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled as, when 
agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every 
State, would effectually provide for the same. 

Congress, on the 21 st of February, 1787. adopted a resolution in favor of 
a convention, and the Legislatures of those States which had not already 





16 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787 


ARTICLE I. 

Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested 
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate 
and House of Representatives. 

Hayburn’s case (notes), 2 Dali., 409. 

\ 

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several 
States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications 
requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State 
Legislature. 

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained 
the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant 
of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

f [Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according 
to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding 
to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound 
to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, 
three-fifths of all other Persons.] The actual Enumeration shall be 


done so (with the exception of Rhode Island) promptly appointed delegates. 
On the 25th of May, seven States having convened, George Washington, of 
Virginia, was unanimously eiected President, and the consideration of the 
proposed consiitution was commenced. On the 17th of September, 1787, 
the Constitution as engrohsed and agreed upon was signed by all the mem¬ 
bers present, except Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, and Messrs. Mason and 
Randolph, of Virginia. The president of the convention transmitted it to 
Congress, with a resolution stating how the proposed Federal Government 
should be put in operation, and an explanatory letter. Congress, on the 
28th of September, 1787, directed the Constitution so framed, with the 
resolutions and letter concerning the same, to 4 * be transmitted to the several 
Legislatures in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in 
each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the con¬ 
vention.” 

On the 4th of March, 1789, the day which had been fixed for commencing 
the operations of Government under the new Constitution, it had been 
ratified by the conventions chosen in each State to consider it, as follows: 
Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 17S7; New 
Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 
9, 1788; Massachusetts. February 6, 1788; Maryland. April 28, 1788; South 
Carolina, May 28. 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26 
1788; and New York, July 26, 1788. 

The President informed Congress, on the 28th of Januarv, 1790, that 
South Carolina had ratified the Constitution November 21, 1789; and he 
informed Congress on the 1st of June, 1790, that Rhode Island had ratified 
the Constitution May 29, 1789. Vermont, in convention, ratified the Con¬ 
stitution January 10, 1789, and was, by an act of Congress approved Feb¬ 
ruary 19, 1791, received and admitted into this Union as a new and entire 
member of the United States.” 

fThe clause included in brackets is amended by the 14th amendment 2d 
section, p. 31. 







CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


17 


made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of 
the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, 
in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Rep¬ 
resentatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each 
State shall have at Least one Representative ; and until such enume¬ 
ration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled 
to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence 
Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, 
Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, 
North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall., 533; Scholey v. Rew, 23 Wall., 331. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the 
Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such 
Vacancies. 

The Hou se of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other 
Officers ; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed 
of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, 
for six Years ; and each Senator shall have one Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the 
first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be 
vacated at the Expiration of the second year, of the second Class 
at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the 
Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one-third may be chosen every 
second Year ; and if vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, 
during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive 
thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting 
of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. 

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that 
State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President 
pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall 
exercise the Office of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. 
When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice 
shall preside : And no Person shall be convicted without the Con¬ 
currence of two-thirds of the Members present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than 
to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any 
Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States : but the 




18 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES -1787. 


Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indict¬ 
ment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. 

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections 
for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State 
by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by 
Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing 
Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such 
Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless the}^ 
shall by Law appoint a different Day. 

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Re¬ 
turns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each 
shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number 
may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the 
Attendance of Absent Members, in such Manner, and under such 
Penalties as each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish 
its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of 
two-thirds, expel a member. 

Anderson v. Dunn, 6 Wh., 204. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from 
time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their 
Judgment require Secrecy ; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members 
of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one-fifth of 
those present, be entered on the Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section 6 . The Senators and Representatives shall receive a 
Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid 
out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, 
except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from 
Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective 
Houses, and in going to and returning from the same ; and for any 
Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in 
auv other Place. 

Coxe v. M’Clenaclian, 3 Dali., 478. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of 
the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments 
whereof shall have been encreased during such time ; and no Person 
holding any Office under the United States, shall be a member of 
either House during his Continuance in Office. 

Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur 
with Amendments as on other Bills. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


19 


Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the 
President ot the United States ; If he approve he shall sign it, but 
if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which 
it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on 
their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Recon¬ 
sideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it 
shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by 
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two 
thirds of that House, it shall become a Lav/. But in all such Cases 
the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, 
and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall 
be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill 
shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays 
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall 
be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress 
by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall 
not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of 
the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except 
on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President 
of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall 
be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed 
by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according 
to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect 
Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide 
for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; 
but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the 
United States ; 

Hylton v. United States, 3 Dali., 171; McCulloch v. State of Mary¬ 
land, 4 Wh., 316; Longboro’ v. Blake, 5 Wh., 317; Osborn v. United 
States Bank, 9 Wh., 738; Weston et al. v. City Council of Charlestown, 

2 Pet., 449; Dobbins v. The Commissioners of Erie County, 16 Pet., 
435; License Cases, 5 How., 504; Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port 
of Philadelphia et al., 12 How., 299; McGuire v. The Commonwealth, 

3 Wall., 387; Van Allen v. The Assessors, 3 Wall., 573; Bradley v. The 
People, 4 Wall., 459. 

License Tax Cases, 5 Wall., 462; Penear v. The Commonwealth, 5 
Wall., 475; Woodruff v. Parham, 8 Wall., 123; Hinson v. Lott, 8 Wall., 
148; Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533; The Collector v. Day, 11 
Wall., 113; United States v. Singer, 15 Wall., Ill; State tax on foreign- 
held bonds, 15 Wall., 300; United States v. Railroad Company, 17 
Wall., 322; Railroad Company v. Peniston, 18 Wall., 5; Seliolay v. 
Rew, 23 Wall., 331. 

To borrow money on the credit of the United States; 

McCulloch v. The State of Maryland, 4 Wh., 316; Weston et al. v. 
The City Council of Charleston, 2 Pet., 449; Bank of Commerce v. 
New York City, 2 Black, 620; Bank Tax Cases, 2 Wall., 200; The Banks 
v. The Mayor, 7 Wall., 16; Bank v. Supervisors, 7 Wall., 26; Hepburn 



20 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


v. Griswold, 8 Wall., 603; National Bank v. Commonwealth, 9 Wall., 
353; Parker v. Davis, 12 Wall., 457. 

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wh., 1; Brown et al. v. State of Maryland, 12 
Wh., 419; Wilson et al. v. Black Bird Creek Marsh Company, 2 Pet., 
245; Worcester v. The State of Georgia, 6 Pet., 515; City of New York 
v. Miln, 11 Pet., 102; United States v. Coombs, 12 Pet., 72; Holmes v. 
Jennison et al., 14 Pet., 504; License Cases, 5 How.. 504; Passenger 
Cases, 7 How., 283; Nathan v. Louisiana, 8 How., 73; Mager v. Grima 
et al.. 8 How., 490; United States v. Marigold, 9 How., 560; Cowley v. 
Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia, 12 How., 299; The Propel¬ 
ler Genesee Chief et al. v. Fitshugh et al., 12 How , 443; State of 
Pennsylvania v. The Wheeling Bridge Company, 13 How.. 518; Veazie 
et al. v. Moor, 14 How., 568; Smith v. State of Maryland, 18 How., 
71; State of Pennsylvania v. The Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Com¬ 
pany, et al., 18 How., 421; Sinnitt v. Davenport, 22 How., 227; Foster 
et al. v. Davenport et al., 22 How., 244; Conway et al. v. Taylor’s ex., 
1 Black, 603; United States v. Holliday, 3 Wall., 407; Gilman v. Phila¬ 
delphia, 3 Wall., 713; The Passaic Bridges, 3 Wall., 782; Steamship 
Company v. Port Wardens, 6 Wall., 31; Crandall v. State of Nevada, 
6 Wall., 35; White’s Bank v. Smith, 7 Wall., 646; Waring v. The Mayor, 

8 Wall., 110; Paul v. Virginia, 8 Wall., 168; Thompson v. Pacific Kail- 
road, 9 Wall., 579; Downham et al. v. Alexandria Council, 10 Wall., 
173; The Clinton Bridge, 10 Wall., 454; The Daniel Ball, 10 Wall., 557; 
Liverpool Insurance Company v. Massachusetts, 10 Wall., 566; The 
Montello, 11 Wall., 411; Ex parte McNeil, 13 Wall., 236; State freight- 
tax, 15 Wall., 232; State tax on railway gross receipts, 15 Wall., 284; 
Osborn v. Mobile, 16 Wall., 479; Railroad Company v. Fuller, 17 Wall., 
560; Bartemeyer v. Iowa, 18 Wall., 129; The Delaware Railroad tax, 
18 Wall., 206; Peete v Morgan, 19 Wall., 581; Railroad Company v. 
Richmond, 19 Wall., 584; Railroad Company v. Maryland, 21 Wall., 
456; The Lottawanna, 21 Wall., 558; Henderson et al. v. The Mayor of 
the City of New York, 92 U. S., 259; Chy Lung v. Freeman et al., 92 
U. S., 275; South Carolina v. Georgia et al., 93 U. S., 4; Sherlock et al. 
v. Ailing, adm., 93 U. S., 99; United States v. Forty-three Gallons of 
Whisky, etc., 93 U. S., 188; Foster v. Master and Wardens of the Port 
of New Orleans, 94 U. S-, 246. 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, 1 and uniform Laws 
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 2 

2 Sturgis v. Crowningshield, 4 Wh., 122; 2 McMillan v. McNeal, 4 Wh., 
209; 2 Farmers and Mechanics’ Bank, Pennsylvania, v. Smith, 6 Wh., 
131; 2 Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wli., 213; 2 Boyle v. Zacharie and Turner, 
6 Pet., 348; iGassies v. Ballon, 6 Pet., 761; 2 Beers et al. v. Haughton, 

9 Pet., 329; 2 Suydam et al. v. Broadnax, 14 Pet., 67; 2 Cook v. Moffat et 
al., 5 How., 295; Hired Scott v. Sanford, 19 How., 393. 

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, 
and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures ; 

Briscoe v. The Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 11 Pet., 
257; Fox v. The State of Ohio, 5 How., 410; United States v. Marigold, 
9 How., 560. B ’ 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and 
current Coin of the United States; 

Fox v. The State of Ohio, 5 How., 410; United States v. Marigold. 9 
How., 560. * ’ 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


21 


To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

State of Pennsylvania v. The Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Com¬ 
pany, 18 How., 421. 

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing 
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to 
their respective Writings and Discoveries ; 

Grant et al. v. Raymond, 6 Pet., 218; Wheaton et als. v. Peters et 
als., 8 Pet., 591. 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high 
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; 

United States v. Palmer, 3 Wh., 610; United States v. Wiltberger, 5 
Wh., 76; United States v. Smith, 5 Wh., 153; United States v. Pirates, 
5 W r h., 184. 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make 
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 

Brown v. United States, 8 Cr., 110; American Insurance Company et 
al. v. Canter (356 bales cotton), 1 Pet., 511; Mrs. Alexander’s cotton, 
2 Wall., 404; Miller v. United States, 11 Wall., 268; Tyler v. Defrees, 
11 Wall., 331; Stewart v. Kahn, 11 Wall., 493; Hamilton v. Dillin, 21 
Wall., 73; Laman, ex., v. Browne et al., 92 U. S. 187. 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to 
that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years ; 

Crandall v. State of Nevada, 6 Wall., 35. 

To provide and maintain a Navy ; 

United States v. Bevans, 3 Wh., 336; Dynes v. Hooper, 20 How., 65. 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and 
naval Forces; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the 
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 

Houston v. Moore, 5 Wh., 1; Martin v. Mott, 12 Wh., 19; Luther v. 
Borden, 7 How., 1; Crandall v. State of Nevada, 6 Wall., 35; Texas v. 
White, 7 Wall., 700. 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, 
and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the 
Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, 
the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the 
Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress ;j 

Houston v. Moore, 5 Wh., 1; Martin v. Mott, 12 Wh., 19; Luther v. 
Borden, 7 How., 1. 






22 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over 
such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession 
of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the 
Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like 
Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legisla¬ 
ture of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of 
Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Build¬ 
ings ;—And 

Hepburn et al. v. Ellzey, 2 Cr., 444; Longhboro’ v. Blake, 5 Wh., 317; 
Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wh., 264; American Insurance Company v. Can¬ 
ter (356 bales cotton), 1 Pet, 511; Kendall, Postmaster-General, v.- 
The United States, 12 Pet., 524; United States v. Dewitt, 9 Wall., 41; 
Dunphy v. Kleinsmith et al., 11 Wall., 610; Willard v. Presbury, 14 
Wall., 676; Phillips v. Payne, 92 U. S., 130; United States v. Fox, 94 
U. S., 315. 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carry¬ 
ing into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested 
by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in 
any Department or Officer thereof. 

McCulloch y. The State of Maryland, 4 Wh., 316; Wayman v. South¬ 
ard, 10 Wh., 1; Bank of United States v. Halstead, 10Wh.,51; Hep¬ 
burn v. Griswold, 8 Wall., 603; National Bank v. Commonwealth, 9 
Wall., 353; Thomson v. Pacific Railroad, 9 Wall., 579; Parker v. 
Davis, 12 Wall., 457; Railroad Company v. Johnson, 15 Wall., 195; 
Railroad Company v. Peniston, 18 Wall., 5. 

Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as 
any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not 
be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight 
hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such 
Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. 

Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How., 393. 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be sus¬ 
pended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public 
Safety may require it. 

United States v. Hamilton, 3 Dali., 17; Hepburn et al. v. Ellzey, 2 
Cr., 445; Ex parte Bollman and Swartwout, 4 Cr., 75; Ex parte Kear¬ 
ney, 7 Wh , 38; Ex parte Tobias Watkins, 3 Pet., 192; Ex parte Mil- 
burn, 9 Pet., 704; Holmes v. Jennison et al., 14 Pet., 540; Ex parte 
Dorr, 3 How., 103; Luther v. Borden, 7 How., 1; Ableman v. Booth 
and United States v. Booth, 21 How., 506; Ex parte Vallandigham, 1 
Wall., 243; Ex parte Mulligan, 4 Wall, 2; Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall., 
506; Ex parte Yerger, 8 Wall., 85; Tarble’s case, 13 Wall., 397; Ex 
parte Lange, 18 Wall., 163; Ex parte Parks, 93 U. S., 18; Ex parte 
Karstendick, 93 U. S., 396. 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cr., 87; Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wh., 213; Watson 
et al. v. Mercer, 8 Pet., 88; Carpenter et al. v. Commonwealth of Penn¬ 
sylvania, 17 How., 456; Locke v. New Orleans, 4 Wall., 172; Cummings 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES— 1787. 


23 


v. The State of Missouri, 4 Wall., 277; Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall., 333; 
Drehman v. Stifle, 8 Wall., 595; Klinger v. State of Missouri, 13 Wall., 
257; Pierce v. Carskadon, 16 Wall., 234. 

No Capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in Propor¬ 
tion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

License Tax Cases, 5 Wall., 462. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia, 12 How.,. 
299; Page v. Burgess, collector, 92 U. S., 372. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or 
Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall 
Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or 
pay Duties in another. 

Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia et al., 12 
How., 299; State of Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge 
Company et al., 18 How., 421; Munn v. Illinois, 94 U. S., 113. 

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence 
of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and 
Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall 
be published from time to time. 

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States : And 
no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, 
without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolu¬ 
ment, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, 
or foreign State. 

Section. 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or 
Confederation ; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money ; 
emit Bills of Credit make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a 
Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post 
facto Law, 2 or Law impairing the Obligation Contracts, 3 or grant 
any Title of Nobility. 

2Calder and wife v. Bull and wife, 3 Dali., 3S6; 3 Fletcher v. Peck, 6 
Cr., 87; 3 State of New Jersey v. Wilson, 7 Ci\, 164; 3 Sturgis v. Crown- 
ingshield, 4 Wh., 122; 3 McMillan v. McNeil, 4 Wh., 209; 3 Dartmouth 
College v. Woodward, 4 Wh., 518; 3 Owings v. Speed, 5 Wh., 420; 
3 Farmers and Mechanics’ Bank v. Smith, 6 Wh., 131; 3 Green et al. v. 
Biddle, 8 Wh., 1; 3 Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wh., 213; 3 Mason v. Haile, 12 
Wh., 370; 3 Satterlee v. Matthewson, 2 Pet., 380; 3 Hart v. Lampliire, 3 
Pet., 280; J Craig et al. v. State of Missouri, 4 Pet., 410; 3 Providence 
Bank v. Billings and Pitman, 4 Pet., 514; iByrne v. State of Missouri, 
8 Pet., 40; 2Watson v. Mercer, 8 Pet., 88; 3 Mumma v. Potomac Com¬ 
pany, 8 Pet., 281; 3 Beers v. Haughton, 9 Pet., 329; iBriscoe et al. v. The 
Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 11 Pet., 257; 3 The Proprietors 
of Charles River Bridge v. The Proprietors of Warren Bridge, 11 Pet., 
420; Armstrong v. The Treasurer of Athens Company, 16 Pet., 281; 
3 Bronson v. Kinzie et al., 1 How., 311; 3 McCracken v. Hayward, 2 
How., 608; 3 Gordon v. Appeal Tax Court, 3 How., 133; 3 State of Mary¬ 
land v. Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Co., 3 How., 534; 3 Neil, Moore & 









24 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


Co. v. State of Ohio, 3 How., 720; 3 Cook v. Moffatt, 5 How., 295; 
3 Planters’ Bank v. Sharp et al., 6 How., 301; 3 West River Bridge Com¬ 
pany v. Dix et al., 6 How., 507; 3 Crawford et al. v. Branch Bank of 
Mobile, 7 How., 279; 3 Woodruff v. Trapnall, 10 How., 190; 3 Paup et al. 
v. Drew, 10 How., 218; 2 , SBaltimore and Susquehanna R. R. Co. v. 
Nesbitt et al., 10 How., 395; 3 Butler et al. v. Pennsylvania, 10 How., 
402; iDarington et al. v. The Bank of Alabama, 13 How., 12; 3 Rich- 
mond, &c., R. R. Co. v. The Louise R. R. Co., 13 How., 71; 3 Trustees 
for Vincennes University v. State of Indiana, 14 How., 268; 3 Curran v. 
State of Arkansas et al., 15 How., 304; 3 State Bank of Ohio v. Knoop, 
16 How., 369; ‘^Carpenter et al. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 17 
How., 456; 3 Dodge v. Woolsey, 18 How., 331; 3 Beers v. State of Arkan¬ 
sas, 20 How., 527; 3 Aspinwall et al. v. Commissioners of County of 
Daviess, 22 How., 364; 3 Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, v. 
County of Philadelphia, 24 How., 300; 3 Howard v. Bugbee, 24 How., 
461; 3 Jefferson Branch Bank v. Skelley, 1 Black, 436; 3 Franklin Branch 
Bank v. State of Ohio, 1 Black, 474; ^Trustees of the Wabash and Erie 
Canal Company v. Beers, 2 Black, 448; 3 Gilman v. City of Sheboygan, 
2 Black, 510; 3 Bridge Proprietors v. Hoboken Company, 1 Wall., 116; 
3 Hawthorne ,v. Calef, 2 Wall., 10; 3 The Binghamton Bridge, 3 Wall., 
51; 3 The Turnpike Company v. The State, 3 Wall., 210; 2 Locke v. City 
of New Orleans, 4 Wall., 172; 3 Railroad Company v. Rock, 4 Wall., 
177; 3 Oummings v. State of Missouri, 4 Wall., 277; 2 Ex parte Garland, 
4 Wall., 333; 3 Von Hoffman v. City of Quincy, 4 Wall., 535; 3 Mulligan 
v. Corbin, 7 Wall., 487; 3 Furman v. Nichol, 8 Wall., 44; 3 Home of the 
Friendless v. Rouse, 8 Wall., 430; 3 The Washington University v. 
Rouse, 8 Wall., 439; 3 Butz v. City of Muscatine, 8 Wall., 575; 3 Dreh- 
man v. Stifle, 8 Wall., 595; 3 Hepburn v. Griswold, 8 Wall., 603; 2 Gut v. 
The State, 9 Wall., 35; 3 Railroad Company v. McClure, 10 Wall., 511; 
3 Parker v. Davis, 12 Wall., 457; 3 Curtis v. Whiting, 13 Wall., 68; 
3 Pennsylvania College Cases, 13 Wall., 190; 3 WilmingtonR. R. v. Reid, 
sheriff, 13 Wall., 264; 3 Salt Company v. East Saginaw, 13 Wall., 373; 
3 White v. Hart, 13 Wall., 646; 3 Osborn v. Nicholson et al., 13 Wall., 
654; 3 Railroad Company v. Johnson, 15 Wall., 195; 3 Case of the State 
tax on foreign-held bonds, 15 Wall., 300; 3 Tomlinson v. Jessup, 15 
Wall., 454; 3 Tomlinson v. Branch, 15 Wall., 460; 3 Miller v. The State, 
15 Wall., 478; 3 Holyoke Company v. Lyman, 15 Wall., 500; 3 Gunn v. 
Barry, 15 Wall., 610; 3 Humphrey v. Pegues, 16 Wall., 244; 3 Walker v. 
Whitehead, 16 Wall., 314; 3 Sohn v. Waterson, 17 Wall., 596; 3 Barings 
v. Dabney, 19 Wall., 1; 3 Head v. The University, 19 Wall., 526; 3 Pacific 
R. R. Co. v. Maguire, 20 Wall., 36; 3 Garrisonv. The City of New York, 
21 Wall., 196; 3 Ochiltree v. The Railroad Company, 21 Wall., 249; 
3 Wilmington, &c., Railroad v. King, ex., 91 U. S., 3; 3 County of 
Moultrie v. Rockingham Ten Cent Savings Bank, 92 U. S., 631; 3 Home 
Insurance Company v. City Council of Augusta, 93 U. S., 116; 3 West 
Wisconsin R. R. Co. v. Supervisors, 93 U. S., 595. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Imposts 
or Duties on Imposts or Exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Pro¬ 
duce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or 
Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; 
and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of 
the Congress. 

McCulloch v. State of Maryland, 4 Wli., 316; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 
Wli., 1; Brown v. The State of Maryland, 12 Wh., 419; Mager v. Grima 
et al., 8 How., 490; Cooley v. Board of Wardens of the Port of Phila¬ 
delphia et al., 12 How., 299; Almy v. State of California, 24 How., 
169; License Tax Cases, 5 Wall. 462; Crandall v. State of Nevada, 6 
Wall., 35; Waring v. The Mayor, 8 Wall., 110; Woodruff v. Perham, 8 
Wall., 123; Hinson v. Lott, 8 Wall., 148; State Tonnage Tax Cases, 12 




CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


25 


Wall., 204; State tax on railway gross receipts, 15 ,Wall., 284; Inman 
Steamship Company v. Tinker, 94 U. S., 238. 


No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of 
Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter 
into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign 
Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such immi¬ 
nent Danger as will not admit of delay. 

Green v. Biddle, 8 Wh., 1; Poole et al. v. The Lessee of Fleeger et 
al., 11 Pet., 185; Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia etal., 
12 How., 299; Peete v. Morgan, 19 Wall., 581; Cannon v. New Orleans, 
20 Wall., 577; Inman Steamship Company v. Tinker, 94 U. S., 238. 


ARTICLE II. 


Section. 1 . The executive Power shall be vested in a President 
of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during 
the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, 
chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows 

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole Num¬ 
ber of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be 
entitled in the Congress ; but no Senator or Representative, or Per¬ 
son holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, 
shall be appointed an Elector. 

Chisholm, ex., v. Georgia, 2 Dali., 419; Leitensdorfer et al. v. Webb, 
20 How., 176. 

[“The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the 
same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons 
voted for, and for the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall 
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of Government of the 
United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of 
the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The 
Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such 
Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if 
there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number 
of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by 
Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then 
from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse 
the President. Butin chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by 
States, the Representation of each State having one Vote; A quorum for 
this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the 
States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In 
every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the great¬ 
est Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But 
if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate 
shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice-President.”] 

This clause has been superseded by the twelfth amendment, p. 30. 

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, 






26 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES— 1787. 


and the Day on which they shall give their Votes ; which Day shall 
be the same throughout the United States. 

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the 
United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall 
be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be 
eligible to that Office who shall not have attained the Age of thirty 
five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United 
States. 


English v. the Trustees of the Sailors’ Snug Harbor, 3 Pet., 99. 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his 
Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties 
of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and 
the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, 
Resignation, or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, 
declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer 
shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President 
shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a 
Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished dur¬ 
ing the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not 
receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United 
States, or anv of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the 
following Oath or Affirmation :—“ I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 
that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United 
States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and 
defend the Constitution of the United States.” 

Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the sev¬ 
eral States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; 
he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in 
each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to 
the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to 
grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, 
except in Cases of Impeachment. 

United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet., 150; Ex parte William Wells, 18 
How., 307; Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall., 333; Armstrong’s Foundry, 6 
Wall., 766; The Grape Shot, 9 Wall., 129; United States v. Padelford, 
9 Wall., 542; United States v. Klein, 13 Wall., 128; Armstrong v. The 
United States, 13 vVall., 152; Pargond v. The United States, 13 Wall., 
156; Hamilton v. Dillon, 21 Wall., 73; Mechanics and Traders’ Bank 
v. Union Bank, 22 Wall., 276; Lamar, ex., v. Browne et al., 92 U. S., 
187; Wallach et al. v. Van Riswick, 92 U. S. 202. 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 
Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators pres¬ 
ent concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES -1787. 


27 


Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Min¬ 
isters and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other 
Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein 
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law : but 
the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior 
Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts 
of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. 

Ware v. Hylton et al., 3 Dali., 199; Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cr., 137; 
United States v. Kirkpatrick, 9 Wh., 720; American Insurance Com¬ 
pany v. Canter (356 bales cotton), 1 Pet., 511; Foster and Elam v.Neil- 
son, 2 Pet., 253; Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia, 5 Pet., 1; Pat¬ 
terson v. Gwinn et al., 5 Pet., 233; Worcester v. State of Georgia, 6 
Pet., 515 : City of New Orleans v. De Armas et al., 9 Pet., 224; Holden 
v. Joy, 17 Wall., 211. 

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may 
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions 
which shall expire at the End of their next Session. 

The United States v. Kirkpatrick et al., 9 Wh., 720. 

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress 
Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their 
Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expe¬ 
dient ; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, 
or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with 
Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such 
Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and 
other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faith¬ 
fully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United 
States. 


Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cr , 137; Kendall, Postmaster-General, v. The 
United States, 12 Pet., 524; Luther v. Borden, 7 How., 1; The State of 
Mississippi v. Johnson, President, 4 Wall., 475; Stewart v. Kahn, 11 
Wall., 493. 

Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers 
of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment 
for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and 
Misdemeanors. 


ARTICLE III. 

Section. 1 . The judicial Power of the United States, shall be 
vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the 
Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, 
both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices dur¬ 
ing good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their 







28 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their 
Continuance in Office. 

Chisholm, ex., v. Georgia, 2 Dali., 419; Stuart v. Laird, 1 Cr., 299; 
United States v. Peters, 5 Cr., 115; Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Cr., 264; 
Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wh., 304; Osborn v. United States Bank, 
9 Wh., 738; Benner et al. v. Porter. 9 How., 235; The United States v. 
Ritchie, 17 How., 525; Murray’s Lessee et al. v. Hoboken Land and 
Improvement Company, 18 How., 272; Ex p#rte Vallandigham, 1 
Wall., 243. 

Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in 
Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the 
United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under 
their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public 
Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime 
Jurisdiction ;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be 
a Party ;—to Controversies between two or more States ;—between 
a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of differ¬ 
ent States,—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands 
under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens 
thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. 

Hayburn’s case (note), 2 Dali., 410; Chisholm, ex., v. Georgia, 2 
Dali., 419; Glass et al. v. Sloop Betsey, 3 Dali., 6; United States v. La 
Vengeance, 3 Dali., 297; Hollingsworth et al. v. Virginia, 3 Dali., 378; 
Mossman, ex., v. Higginson, 4 Dali., 12; Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cr., 
137; Hepburn et al. v. Ellezley, 2 Cr., 444; United States v. Moore, 3 
Cr,., 159; Strawbridge et al. v. Curtiss et al., 3 Cr., 267; Ex parte Boll- 
mann and Swartwout, 4 Cr., 75; Rose v. Himely, 4 Cr., 241; Chappede- 
laine et al. v. Dechenaux, 4 Cr., 305; Hope Insurance Company v. 
Boardman et al., 5 Cr., 57; Bank of United States v. Devaux et al., 5 
Cr., 67; Hodgson et als. v. Bowerbank et als., 5 Cr., 303; Owings v. 
Norwood’s Lessee, 5 Cr., 344; Durousseau v. The United States, 6 Cr., 
307; United States v. Hudson and Goodwin, 7 Cr., 32; Martin v. Hun¬ 
ter, 1 Wli., 304; Colson et al. v. Lewis, 2 Wh., 377; United States v. 
Bevens, 3 Wh., 336; Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wh., 264; Ex parte Kearney, 
7 Wh., 38; Matthews v. Zane, 7 Wh., 164; Osborn v. United States 
Bank, 9 Wh., 738; United States v. Ortega, 11 Wh., 467; American 
Insurance Company v. Canter (356 bales cotton), 1 Pet., 511; Jackson v. 
Twentyman, 2 Pet., 136; Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia. 5 Pet., 
1; State of New Jersey v. State of New York, 5 Pet., 283; Davis v. 
Packard et al., 6 Pet., 41; United States v. Arredondo et al., 6 Pet., 
691; Davis v. Packard et al., 7 Pet., 278^ Breedlove et al. v. Nickolet 
et al., 7 Pet., 413; Brown v. Keene, 8 Pet., 112; Davis v. Packard et 
al., 8 Pet., 312; City of New Orleans v. De Armas et al., 9 Pet., 224; 
The State of Rhode Island v. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 12 
Pet., 657; The Bank of Augusta v. Earle, 13 Pet., 519; The Commer¬ 
cial and Railroad Bank of Vicksburg v. Slocomb et al., 14 Pet., 60; 
Suydam et al. v. Broadnax, 14 Pet., 67; Prigg v. The Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, 16 Pet., 539; Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Rail¬ 
way Company v. Letson, 2 How., 497; Cary et als. v. Curtis, 3 How., 
236; Warring v. Clark, 5 How., 441; Luther v. Borden, 7 How., 1; 
Sheldon et al. v. Sill, 8 How., 441; The Propeller Genesee Chief v. 
Fitzhugh et al., 12 How., 443; Fretz et al. v. Ball et al., 12 How., 466; 
Neves et al. v. Scott et al., 13 How., 268; State of Pennsylvania v. The 
Wheeling, &c., Bridge Company et al., 13 How., 518; Marshall v. The 
Baltimore and Ohio R. R. Co., 16 How., 314; The United States v. 
Guthrie, 17 How., 284; Smith v. State of Maryland, 18 How., 71; Jones 
et al v. League. 18 How., 76; Murray’s Lessee et al. v. Hoboken Land 




CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


29 


and Improvement Company, IS How., 272; Hyde et al. v. Stone, 20 
How., 170; Irvine v. Marshall et al., 20 How., 558; Fenn v. Holmes, 21 
How., 481; Moorewood et al. v. Erequist, 23 How., 491; Common¬ 
wealth of Kentucky v. Dennison, Governor, 24 How., 66; Ohio and 
Mississippi Railroad Company v. Wheeler, 1 Black, 286; The Steamer 
Saint Lawrence, 1 Black, 522; The Propeller Commerce, 1 Black, 574; 
Ex parte Yallandigliani, 1 Wall., 243; Ex parte Milligan, 4 Wall., 1; 
The Moses Taylor, 4 Wall., 411; State of Mississippi v. Johnson, Presi¬ 
dent, 4 Wall., 475; The Hine v. Trevor, 4 Wall., 555; City of Philadel¬ 
phia v. The Collector, 5 Wall., 720; State of Georgia v. Stanton, 6 Wall., 
50; Payne v. Hook, 7 Wall., 425; The Alicia, 7 Wall, 571; Ex parte 
Yearger, 8 Wall., 85; Insurance Company v. Dunham, 11 Wall., 1; 
Virginia v. West Virginia, 11 Wall., 39; Coal Company v. Blatchford, 
11 Wall., 172; Railway Company v. Whitton’s adm., 13 Wall., 270; 
Tarble’s Case, 13 Wall., 397; Blyew et al. v. The United States, 13 Wall., 
581; Davis v. Gray, 16 Wall., 203; Case of the Sewing Machine Com¬ 
panies, 18 Wall., 553; Insurance Company v. Morse, 20 Wall., 445; 
Vannevar v. Bryant, 21 Wall., 41; The Lottawanna, 21 Wall., 558; 
Gaines v. Fuentes et al., 92 U. S , 10; Miller v. Dows, 94 U. S., 444; 
Doyle v. Continental Insurance Company, 94 U. S., 535. 


In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme 
Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all other Cases before 
mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both 
as to Law and Pact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regu¬ 
lations as the Congress shall make. 

Chisholm, ex., v. Georgia, 2 Dali., 419; Wiscart et al. v. Dauchy, 3 
Dali., 321; Marhury v. Madison, 1 Cr., 137; Durousseau et al. v. 
United States, 6 Cr., 307; Martin v. HunteUs Lessee, 1 Wh., 304; 
Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wh., 234; Ex parte Kearney, 7 Wh., 38; Way- 
man v. Southard, 10 Wh., 1; Bank of the United States v. Halstead, 10 
Wh.,51; United States v. Ortega, 11 Wli., 467; The Cherokee Nation 
v. The State of Georgia, 5 Pet., 1; Ex parte Crane et als., 5 Pet., 189; 
The State of New Jersey v. The State of New York, 5 Pet., 283; Ex 
parte Sibbald v. United States, 12 Pet., 488; The State of Rhode Island 
v. The State of Massachusetts, 12 Pet., 657; State of Pennsylvania v. 
The Wheeling, &c., Bridge Company, 13 How., 518; In re Kaine, 14 
How., 103; Ableman v. Booth and United States v. Booth, 21 How., 
506; Freeborn v. Smith, 2 Wall., 160; Ex parte McCardle, 6 Wall., 318; 
Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall., 506; Ex parte Yerger, 8 Wall., 85; The 
Lucy, 8 Wall., 307; The Justices v. Murray. 9 Wall., 274; Pennsylvania 
v. Quicksilver Company, 10 Wall., 553; Murdock v. City of Memphis, 
20 Wall., 590. 

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be 
by Jury ; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said 
Crimes" shall have been committed ; but when not committed within 
any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress 
may by Law have directed. 

Ex parte Milligan, 4 Wall., 2. 

* 

Section. 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist 
only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, 
giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of 






30 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt 
Act, or on Confession in open Court. 

United States v. The Insurgents, 2 Dali., 335; United States v. Mitch¬ 
ell, 2 Dali., 348; Ex parte Bollman and Swartwout, 4 Cr., 75; United 
States v. Aaron Burr, 4 Cr., 469. 

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of 
Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of 
Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. 

Bigelow v. Forest, 9 Wall., 339; Day v. Micou, 18 Wall., 156; Ex 
parte Lange, 18 Wall., 163; Wallack et al. v. Van Riswick, 92 U. S., 
202 . 


ARTICLE IV. 


Section. 1 . Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State 
to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other 
State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Man¬ 
ner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, 
and the Effect thereof. 

Mills y. Duryee, 7 Cr., 481; Hampton v. McConnel, 3 Wh., 234; May- 
hew v. Thatcher, 6 Wh., 129; Darby’s Lessee v. Mayer, 10 Wh., 465; 
The United States v. Amedy, 11 Wh., 392; Caldwell et al. v. Carring¬ 
ton’s heirs, 9 Pet., 86; M’Elmoyle v. Cohen, 13 Pet., 312; The Bank of 
Augusta v. Earle, 13 Pet., 519; Bank of the State of Alabama v. Dal¬ 
ton, 9 How., 522; D’Arcy v. Ketchum, 11 How., 165; Christmas v, 
Russell, 5 Wall., 290; Green v. Van Baskirk, 7 Wall., 139; Paul v. 
Virginia, 8 Wall., 168; Board or Public Works v. Columbia College, 17 
Wall., 521; Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall., 457. 


Section. 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. 

Bank of United States v. Devereaux, 5 Cr., 61; Gassies v. Ballou, 6 
Pet., 761; The State of Rhode Island v. The Commonwealth of Massa¬ 
chusetts, 12 Pet., 657; The Bank of Augusta v. Earle, 13 Pet., 519; 
Moore v. The People of the State of Illinois, 14 How., 13; Conner etal. 
v. Elliott et al., 18 How., 591; Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How., 393; 
Crandall v. State of Nevada, 6 Wall., 35; Woodruff v. Parham, 8 Wall., 
123; Paul v. Virginia, 8 Wall., 168; Downham v. Alexandria Council, 
10 Wall., 173; Liverpool Insurance Company v. Massachusetts, 10 Wall., 
566; Ward v. Maryland, 12 Wall., 418; Slaughterhouse Cases, 16 Wall., 
36; Bradwell v. The State. 16 Wall., 130; Chemung Bank v.Lowery, 93 
U. S., 72; McCready v. Virginia, 94 U. S., 391. 


A person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other 
Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, 
shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which 
he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having Jurisdic¬ 
tion of the Crime. 

Holmes v. Jennison et al., 14 Pet., 540; Commonwealth of Kentucky 
v. Dennison, governor, 24 How., 66; Taylor v. Tainter, 16 Wall., 366. 




CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


31 


No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the 
Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any 
Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or 
Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom 
such Service or Labour may be due. 

Prigg v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 16 Pet., 539; Jones v. 
Yan Zandt, 5 How., 215; Strader et al. v. Graham, 10 How., 82; Moore 
v. The People of the State of Illinois, 14 How., 13; Dred Scott v. San¬ 
ford, 19 How., 393; Ableman v. Booth and United States v. Booth, 21 
How., 506. 

Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into 
this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the 
Jurisdiction of any other State ; nor any State be formed by the 
Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the 
Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of 
the Congress. 


American Insurance Company et al. v. Canter (356 bales cotton), 1 
Pet., 511; Pollard’s Lessee v. Hagan, 3 How., 212; Cross et al. v. Har¬ 
rison, 16 How., 164. 

The Cong ress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful 
Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution 
shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United 
States, or of any particular State. 

McCulloch v State of Maryland, 4 Wli., 316; American Insurance 
Company v. Canter, 1 Pet., 511; United States v. Gratiot et al., 14 Pet., 
526; United States v. Rogers, 4 How., 567; Cross et al. v. Harrison, 16 
How., 164; Muckey et al. v. Coxe, 18 How., 100; Gibsou v. Chateau, 13 
Wall., 92; Clinton v. Englebert, 13 Wall., 434; Beall v. New Mexico, 
16 Wall., 535. 

Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect 
each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legisla¬ 
ture, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) 
against domestic Violence. 

Luther v. Borden, 7 How., 1; Texas v. White, 7 Wall., 700. 


ARTICLE V. 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on 
the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several 
States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, 
in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of 




32 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths 
of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as 
the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the 
Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior 
to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Man¬ 
ner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the 
first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be 
deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. 


ARTICLE YI. 


All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the 
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall 
be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme Law of the Land ; and the Judges in every State shall be 
bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State 
to the Contrary notwithstanding. 

Hayburn’s Case, 2 DalL, 409; Ware v. Hylton, 3 Dali., 199; Calder 
and wife v. Bull and wife, 3 DalL, 386; Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cr., 137; 
Chirac v. Chirac, 2 Wh., 259; McCulloch v. The State of Maryland, 4 
Wh., 316; Society v. New Haven, 8 Wh., 464; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 
Wh., 1; Foster and Elam v. Neilson, 2 Pet., 253; Buckner v. Finley, 2 
Pet., 586; Worcester v. State of Georgia, 6 Pet., 515; Kennett et al. v. 
Chambers, 14 How., 38; Dodge v. Woolsey,18 How., 331; State of New 
York v. Dibble, 21 How., 366; Ableman v. Booth and United States v. 
Booth, 21 How., 506; Sinnot v. Davenport, 22 How., 227; Foster v. 
Davenport, 22 How., 244; Haver v. Yaker, 9 Wall., 32. 


The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and 
judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, 
shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; 
but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any 
Office or public Trust under the United States. 

Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall., 333. 


ARTICLE YII. 


The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be suffi¬ 
cient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States 
so ratifying the Same. 




CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES— 1787. 


33 


Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present 
the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven, and of the 
Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In 
Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, 

G°: WASHINGTON— 
Presidt. and Deputy Jrom Virginia 

New Hampshire. 


John Langdon 

Nicholas Gilman 

Nathaniel Gorham 

Massachusetts. 

Rufus King 

Wm. Saml. Johnson 

Connecticut. 

Roger Sherman 


New York. 


Alexander Hamilton 


Wil : Livingston 

David Brearley 

New Jersey . 

\Ym. Paterson 

Jon a : Dayton 

B. Franklin 

Thomas Mifflin 

Robt. Morris 

Geo. Clymer 

Pennsylvania. 

Thos. Fitzsimons 

Jared Ingersoll 

James Wilson 

Gouv Morris 

Geo : Read 

Gunning Bedford Jun 
John Dickinson 

% ' 

Delaware. 

Richard Bassett 

Jaco : Broom 




34 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787 


Maryland. 

James McHenry Danl. Carroll 

Dan of St Thus Jenifer 


John Blair— 

Virginia. 

James Madison Jr. 


North Carolina. 


Wm. Blount Hu Williamson. 

Richd. Dobbs Spaight 

South Carolina. 

J. Rutledge, Charles Pinckney 

Charles Coatsworth Pinckney Pierce Butler. 



Georgia . 

William Few 

Abr Baldwin 

Attest 

WILLIAM JACKSON Secretary 




CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


35 


ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITU¬ 
TION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CON¬ 
GRESS, AND RATIFLED BY THE LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL 
STATES PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL 
CONSTITUTION. 


[ARTICLE I.]* 


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of relig¬ 
ion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the 
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people 
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress 
of grievances. 

Terret et al. v. Taylor et al., 9 Cr., 43; Vidal et al. v. Girard et al., 2 
How., 127; Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall., 333; United States v. Cruiksliank 
et al., 92 U. S., 542. 

. [ARTICLE II.] 


A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be 
infringed. 


[ARTICLE III.] 

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, 
without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a man¬ 
ner to be prescribed by law. 


[ARTICLE IV.] 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall 


*The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States were 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the First Congress, on 
the 25th of September, 1789. They were ratified by the following States, 
and the notifications of ratification by the governors thereof were succes¬ 
sively communicated by the President to Congress: New Jersey, Novem¬ 
ber 20,1789; Maryland, December 19,1789; North Carolina, December 22, 
1789; South Carolina, January, 19, 1790; New Hampshire, January 25, 
1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; Pennsylvania, March 10, 1790; New 
York, March 27, 1790; Rhode Island, June 15, 1790; Vermont, November 
3, 1791; and Virginia, December 15, 1791. There is no evidence on the 
journals of Congress that the legislatures of Connecticut, Georgia, and 
Massachusetts ratified them. 







36 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable 
cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing 
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

Smith v. State of Maryland, 18 How., 71; Murray’s Lessee et al. v. 
Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, 18 How., 272; Ex parte 
Milligan, 4 Wall., 2. 


[ARTICLE V.] 


No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise 
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand 
Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the 
Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; 
nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put 
in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal 
Case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, 
or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property 
be taken for public use, without just compensation. 

United States v. Perez, 9 VVh., 579; Barron v The City of Baltimore, 
7 Pet., 243; Fox v. Ohio, 5 How., 410; West River Bridge Company v. 
Dix et al., 6 How/, 507; Mitchell v. Harmony, 13 How., 115; Moore, 
ex., v. The People of the State of Illinois, 14 IIow., 13; Murray’s 
Lessee et al. v. Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, 18 How., 
272; Dynes v. Hoover, 20 How., 65; Withers v. Buckley et al., 20 How., 
84; Gilman v. The City of Sheboygan, 2 Black, 510; Ex parte Milligan, 
4 Wall., 2; Twitchell v. The Commonwealth, 7 Wall., 321; Hepburn 
v. Griswold, 8 Wall., 603; Miller v. The United States, 11 Wall., 268; 
Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall., 457; Pumpelly v. Green Bay Company, 
13 Wall., 166; Osborn v. Nicholson, 13 Wall., 654: Ex parte Lange, 18 
Wall., 163; Kohl et al. v. United States, 91 U. S., 367. 


[ARTICLE VI.] 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to 
a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and dis¬ 
trict wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district 
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed 
of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the 
witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining 
Witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for 
his defence. 

United States v. Cooledge, 1 Wh., 415; Ex parte Kearney, 7 Wh.,38; 

United States v. Mills, 7 Pet., 142; Baron v. City of Baltimore, 7 Pet., 

243; Fox v. Ohio, 5 How., 410; Withers v. Buckley et al., 20 How., 84; 

Ex parte Milligau, 4 Wall., 2; Twitchell v. The Commonwealth, 7 Wall.. 

321; Miller v. The United States, 11 Wall., 268; United States v. Cook. 

17 Wall., 168; United States v. Cruikshank et al., 92 U. S., 542. 






CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


37 


[ARTICLE VII.] 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall 
exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, 
and'no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any 
Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the com- 
mou law. 


United States v. La Vengeance, 3 Dali., 297; Bank of Columbia v. 
Oakley, 4 Wh., 235; Parsons v. Bedford et al., 3 Pet., 433; Lessee of 
Livingston v. Moore et al., 7 Pet., 469; Webster v. Keid, 11 How., 437; 
State of Pennsylvania v. The Wheeling, &c., Bridge Company et al., 13 
How., 518; The Justices v. Murray, 9 Wall., 274; Edwards v. Elliott et 
al., 21 Wall., 532. 


[ARTICLE VIII.] 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

Pervear v. Commonwealth, 5 Wall., 475. 


[ARTICLE IX.] 


The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not 
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

Lessee of Livingston v. Moore et al., 7 Pet., 469. 


[ARTICLE X.] 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu¬ 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people. 

Chisholm, ex., v. State of Georgia, 2 Dali., 419; Hollingsworth et al. 
v. The State of Virginia, 3 Dali., 378; Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wh., 
304; McCulloch v. State of Maryland, 4 Wh., 316; Anderson v. Dunn, 
6 Wh., 204; Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wh., 264; Osborn v. United States 
Bank, 9 Wh., 738; Buchler v. Finley, 2 Pet., 586; Ableman v. Booth, 
21 How., 506; The Collector v. Day, 11 Wall., 113; Claflin v. House¬ 
man, assignee, 93 U. S., 130; Inman Steamship Company v. Tinker, U. 
S., 238. 


[ARTICLE XI.] 


The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 




38 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787 


one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens 
or Subjects of any Foreign State. 

State of Georgia, v. Brailsford et al., 2 Dali., 402; Chisholm, ex., v. 
State of Georgia. 2 Dali., 419; Hollingsworth et al., v. Virginia, 3 Dali., 
378; Cohen v. Virginia, 6 Wh., 264; Osborn v. United States Bank, 9 
Wh., 738; United States v. The Planters’ Bank, 9 Wh., 904; The 
Governor of Georgia v. Juan Madrazo, 1 Pet.^ 110; Cherokee Nation v. 
State of Georgia, 5 Pet., 1; Briscoe v. The Bank of the Commonwealth 
of Kentucky, 11 Pet., 257; Curran v. State of Arkansas et al., 15 How., 
304. 

The eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Third Congress, 
on the 5th September, 1794; and was declared in a message from the 
President to Congress, dated the 8th of January, 1798, to have been ratified 
b} T the legislatures of three-fourths of the States. 


[ARTICLE XII.] 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by 
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall 
not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall 
name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in dis¬ 
tinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall 
make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all 
persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for 
each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to 
the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the 
President of the Senate;—The President of the Senate shall, in the 
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 
certificates and the votes shall then be counted ;—The person having 
the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, 
if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors 
appointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the 
persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of 
those voted for as President, the blouse of Representatives shall choose 
immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the Presi¬ 
dent, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each 
state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a 
member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority 
of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House 
of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right 
of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March 
next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in 
the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the Presi¬ 
dent. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- 
President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have 
a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate 





CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787 . 


89 


shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall 
consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a major¬ 
ity of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no 
person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 

The twelfth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro¬ 
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Eighth Congress, on 
the 12th of December, 1S03, in lieu of the original third paragraph of 
the first section of the second article; and was declared in a proclamation 
of the Secretary of State, dated the 25th of September, 1804, to have been 
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States. 


ARTICLE XIII. 

Section 1 . Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as 
a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con¬ 
victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to 
their jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How., 393; White v. Hart., 13 Wall, 646; 

* Osborn v. Nicholson, 13 Wall., 654; Slaughter-house Cases, 16 Wall., 36. 

The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth 
Congress, on the 1st of February, 1865, and was declared, in a proclamation 
of the Secretary of State, dated the 18th of December, 1865, to have been 
ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the thirty-six States, viz.: 
Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, West Virginia, 
Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, 
Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North 
Carolina, and Georgia. 


ARTICLE XIV. 

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make 
or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 
of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any 
person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor 
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the 
laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the 
several States according to their respective numbers, counting the 
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. 
But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors 





40 


CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES- 1787. 


for President and Vice President of the United States, Represent¬ 
atives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or 
the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male 
inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citi¬ 
zens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for par¬ 
ticipation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation 
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such 
male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty- 
one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any 
office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, 
who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or 
as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legis¬ 
lature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support 
the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insur¬ 
rection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the 
enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of 
each House, remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law. including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, 
shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any 
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of 
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for 
the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations 
and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro¬ 
priate legislation the provisions of this article. 

Crandall v. The State of Nevada, 6 Wall., 35; Paul v. Virginia, 8 
Wall., 168; Ward v. Maryland, 12 Wall., 418; Slaughter-house Cases, 
16 Wall., 36; Bradvvell v. The State, 16 Wall., 130; JBartemeyer v. Iowa, 
18 Wall., 129; Minor v. Happersett, 21 Wall., 162; Walker v. Sauvinet, 
92 U. S., 90; Kennard v. Louisiana, ex rel. Morgan, 92 U. S., 480; 
United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S., 542; Munn v. Illinois, 94 U. S., 
113. 

The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-ninth Con¬ 
gress, on the 16th of June, 1866. On the 21st of July, 1868, Congress 
adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent reso¬ 
lution, declaring that “ the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Ten¬ 
nessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, West 
Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, North 
Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and 
more of the several States of the Union, have ratified the fourteenth article 
of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, duly proposed by 
two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-ninth Congress: Therefore, 
Resolved , That said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the 
Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such 
by the Secretary of State.” The Secretary of State accordingly issued a 
proclamation, dated the 28th of July, 1868, declaring that the proposed 






CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES— 1787. 


41 


fourteenth amendment had been ratified, in the manner hereafter men¬ 
tioned, by the legislatures of thirty of the thirty-six States, viz : Connecticut, 
June 30,1866; New Hampshire, July 7, 1866; Tennessee, July 19, 1866; 
New Jersey, September 11, 1866, (and the legislature of the same State 
passed a resolution in April, 1868. to withdraw its consent to it;) Oregon, 
September 19, 1866; Vermont, November 9, 1866; Georgia rejected it 
November 13, 1866, and ratified it July 21, 1868; North Carolina rejected it 
December 4, 1866, and ratified it July 4, 1868; South Carolina rejected it 
December 20,1866, and ratified it July 9,1868; New York ratified it January 
10, 1867; Ohio ratified it January 11, 1867, (and the legislature of the same 
State passed a resolution in January, 1868, to withdraw its consent to it;) 
Illinois ratified it January 15, 1867; West Virginia, January 16, 1867; 
Kansas, January 18, 1867; Maine, January 19, 1867; Nevada, January 22, 
1867; Missouri, January 26, 1867; Indiana, January 29,1867; Minnesota, 
February 1, 1867: Rhode Island, February, 7, 1867; Wisconsin, February 
13,1867; Pennsylvania, February 13, 1867; Michigan, February 15, 1867; 
Massachusetts, March 20, 1867; Nebraska, June 15, 1867; Iowa, April 3, 
1868; Arkansas, April 6, 1868; Florida, June 9, 1868 ; Louisiana, July 9, 
1868, and Alabama, July 13, 1868. Georgia again ratified the amendment 
February 2, 1870. Texas rejected it November 1, 1866, and ratified it Feb¬ 
ruary 18. 1870. Virginia rejected it January 19, 1867, and ratified October 
8, 1869. The amendment was rejected by Kentucky January 10, 1867; by 
Delaware February 8, 1867; by Maryland March 23, 1867; and was not 
afterward ratified by either State. 


ARTICLE XV. 


Section I. The right of Citizens of the United States to vote 
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this arti¬ 
cle by appropriate legislation. 

United States v. Reese et al., 92 U. S., 214; United States v. Cruik- 
shank et al., 92 U. S., 542. 

The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth Congress, 
on the 27th of February, 1869, and was declared, in a proclamation of the 
the Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the 
legislatures of twenty-nine of the thirty seven States. The dates of these 
ratifications (arranged in the order of their reception at the Department of 
State) were: from North Carolina, March 5, 1869; West Virginia, March 3, 
1869; Massachusetts, March 9-12,1869; Wisconsin, March 9,1869; Maine, 
March 12, 1869; Louisiana, March 5, 1869; Michigan, March 8, 1869; South 
Carolina, March 16, 1869; Pennsylvania, March 26, 1869; Arkansas, March 
30, 1869; Connecticut, May 19, 1869; Florida, June 15,1869; Illinois, March 
5, 1869; Indiana, IVlay 13-14, 1869; New York, March 17-April 14, 1869, 
(and the legislature of the same State passed a resolution January 5, 1870, 
to withdraw its consent to it;) New Hampshire, July 7, 1869; Nevada, 
March 1, 1869; Vermont, October 21, 1869; Virginia, October 8, 1869; 
Missouri, January 10, 1870; Mississippi, January 15-17, 1870; Ohio, Jan¬ 
uary 27, 1870; Iowa, February 3, 1870; Kansas, January 18-19, 1870; Min¬ 
nesota, February 19, 1870; Rhode Island, January 18, 1870; Nebraska, 
February 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870. The State of Georgia also 
ratified the amendment February 2, 1870. 










\ 





■l 










SYNOPTICAL INDEX TO CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES. 48 


SYNOPTICAL 



ARTICLE I. 


Section 1. Legislative powers; in whom vested. 

Sec. 2. House of Representatives, how and by whom chosen—Qualifications 
of a Representative—Representatives and direct taxes, how apportioned—Census 
—Vacancies to be filled—Power of choosing officers, and of impeachment. 

Sec. 3. Senators, how and by whom chosen—How classified—State Executive 
to make temporary appointments, in case, &c.—Qualifications of a Senator— 
President of the Senate, his right to vote—President pro tern., and other officers 
of Senate, how chosen—Power to try impeachments—When President is tried, 
Chief Justice to preside—Sentence. 

Sec. 4. Times, &c., of holding elections, how prescribed—One Session in each 
year. 

Sec. 5. Membership—Quorum—Adjournments—Rules —Power to punish or 
expel—Journal—Time of adjournments limited, unless, &c. 

Sec. 6. Compensation—Privileges—Disqualification in certain cases. 

Sec. 7. House to originate all revenue bills—Veto—Bill maybe passed by two- 
thirds of each house, notwithstanding, <fec.—Bill not returned in ten days—Pro¬ 
vision as to all orders, <fcc., except, &c. 

Sec. 8. Powers of Congress. 

Sec. 9. Provisions as to migration or importation of certain persons—Habeas 
Corpus—Bills of attainder, &c.—Taxes, how apportioned—No export duty—No 
commercial preferences—No money drawn from treasury, unless, <fcc. —No titular 
nobility—Officers not to receive presents, unless, &c. 

Sec. 10. States prohibited from the exercise of certain powers. 


ARTICLE II. 


Section 1. President; his term of office—Electors of Presidents; number and 
how appointed—Electors to vote on same day—Qualification of President.—on 
whom his duties devolve in case of his removal, death, &c.—President’s com¬ 
pensation—His oath. 

Sec. 2. President to be commander-in-chief—He may require opinion of, &c., 
and may pardon—Treaty-making power—Nomination of certain officers—When 
President may fill vacancies. 

Sec. 3. President shall communicate to Congress—He may convene and 
adjourn Congress, in case, &c.; shall receive ambassadors; execute laws, and 
commission officers. 

Sec. 4. All civil offices forfeited for certain crimes. 





44 SYNOPTICAL INDEX TO CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES. 


ARTICLE III. 

Section 1. Judicial power—Tenure—Compensation. 

Sec. 2. Judicial power; to what cases it extends—Original jurisdiction of 
Supreme Court—Appellate—Trial by jury, except, &c.—Trial, where. 

Sec. 3. Treason defined—Proof of—Punishment of. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1 . Each State to give credit to the public acts, &c., of every other 
State. 

Sec. 2. Privileges of citizens of each State—Fugitives from justice to be deliv¬ 
ered up—Persons held to service having escaped, to be delivered up. 

Sec. 3. Admission of new States—Power of Congress over territory and other 
property. 

Sec. 4. Republican form of government guaranteed—Each State to be pro¬ 
tected. 


ARTICLE V. 

Constitution; how amended—Proviso. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Certain debts, &c., adopted—Supremacy of Constitution, treaties, and laws of 
the United States—Oath to support Constitution, by whom taken—No religious 
test. 


ARTICLE VII. 

What ratification shall establish Constitution. 

AMENDMENTS. 

I. Religious establishment prohibited—Freedom of speech, of the press, 
and light to petition. 

II. Right to keep and bear arms. 

III. No soldier to be quartered in any house, unless, &c. 

IV. Right of search and seizure regulated. 

V. Provisions concerning prosecution, trial, and punishment—Private 
property not to be taken for public use, without, &c. 

VI. Further provision respecting criminal prosecutions. 

VII. Right of trial by jury secured. 

VIII. Excessive bail or fines and cruel punishments prohibited. 

IX. Rule of construction. 

X. Same subject. 

XL Same subject. 

XII. Manner of choosing President and Vice-President. 

XIII. Slavery abolished. 

XIV. Citizenship. 

XV. Right to vote, regardless of race, color, or former servitude. 







CONSTITUTION 


OF THE 


STATE OF MISSOURI, 


ADOPTED BY 


.A. “VOTES OP THE ZPESOZFEES, 

OCTOBER 30, 1875. 


[COPIED FROM THE OFFICIAL EDITION.] 

STATE OF MISSOURI, } SS. 

I, Michael K. McGrath, Secretary of State of the State of 
Missouri, hereby certify that I have collated the Constitution and 
Ordinance adopted October 30, 1875, and contained in the following 
pages, with the original roll of said Constitution and Ordinance on 
file in my office, and that the said pages contain a full, true and 
complete copy of said Constitution and Ordinance. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed 

my seal of office. Done at office, in the City of 
Jefferson, this nineteenth day of March, A. D. 
eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. 

mich’l k. McGrath, 

Secretary of Stale. 











I 





CONSTITUTION. 


PREAMBLE. 

We, the people of Missouri, with profound reverence for the 
Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for his goodness, do, 
for the better government of the State, establish this Constitution. 


ARTICLE I. 

BOUNDARIES. 

Section 1. The boundaries of the State as heretofore established 
by law, are hereby ratified and confirmed. The State shall have 
concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and every other 
river bordering on the State, so far as the said rivers shall form a 
common boundary to this State and any other State or States; and 
the river Mississippi and the navigable rivers and waters leading to 
the same, shall be common highways, and forever free to the citizens 
of this State and of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, 
or toll therefor, imposed by this State. 


ARTICLE II. 

BILL OF RIGHTS. 

In order to assert our rights, acknowledge our duties, and pro¬ 
claim the principles on which our government is founded, we declare : 



48 


BILL OF RIGHTS. 


Section 1. That all political power is vested in and derived 
from the people, that all government of right originates from the 
people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for 
the good of the whole. 

Sec. 2. That the people of this State have the inherent, sole and 
exclusive right to regulate the internal government and police 
thereof, and to alter and abolish their Constitution and form of gov¬ 
ernment whenever they may deem it necessary to their safety and 
happiness : Provided , Such change be not repugnant to the Con¬ 
stitution of the United States. 

Sec. 3. That Missouri is a free and independent State, subject 
only to the Constitution of the United States; and as the preser¬ 
vation of the States and the maintenance of their governments, are 
necessary to an indestructible Union, and were intended to co-exist 
with it, the Legislature is not authorized to adopt, nor will the 
people of this State ever assent to any amendment or change of the 
Constitution of the United States which may in anywise impair the 
right of local self-government belonging to the people of this State. 

Sec. 4. That all constitutional government is intended to pro¬ 
mote the general welfare of the people: that all persons have a 
natural right to life, liberty, and the enjoyment of the gains of their 
own industry ; that to give security to these things is the principal 
office of government, and that when government does not confer 
this security, it fails of its chief design. 

Sec. 5. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to- 
worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own con¬ 
science ; that no person can, on account of his religious opinions, be 
rendered ineligible to any office of trust or profit under this State, 
nor be disqualified from testifying, or from serving as a juror; that 
no human authority can control or interfere with the rights of con¬ 
science ; that no person ought, by any law, to be molested in his 
person or estate, on account of his religious persuasion or profession ; 
but the liberty of conscience hereby secured, shall not be so construed 
as to excuse acts of licentiousness, nor to justify practices incon¬ 
sistent with the good order, peace, or safety of this State, or with 
the rights of others. 

Sec. 6. That no person can be compelled to erect, support, or 
attend any place or system of worship, or to maintain or support 
any priest, minister, preacher, or teacher of any sect, church, creed. 





BILL OF RIGHTS 


49 


or denomination of religion ; but if any person shall voluntarily 
make a contract for any such object, he shall be held to the per¬ 
formance of the same. 

Sec. 7. That no money shall ever be taken from the public 
treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or 
denomination of religion, or in aid of any priest, preacher, minister, 
or teacher thereof, as such; and that no preference shall be given 
to, nor any discrimination made against any church, sect, or creed of 
religion, or any form of religious faith or worship. 

Sec. 8. That no religious corporation can be established in this 
State, except such as may be created under a general law for the 
purpose only of holding the title to such real estate as may be 
prescribed by law for church edifices, parsonages and cemeteries. 

Sec. 9. That all elections shall be free and open ; and no power, 
civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exer¬ 
cise of the right of suffrage. 

Sec. 10. That courts of justice shall be open to every person, 
and certain remedy afforded for every injury to person, property, or 
character ; and that right and justice should be administered without 
sale, denial, or delay. 

Sec. 11. That the people shall be secure in their persons, papers, 
homes, and effects, from unreasonable searches and seizures; and 
no warrant to search any place, or seize any person or thing, shall 
issue without describing the place to be searched, or the person or 
thing to be seized, as nearly as may be ; nor without probable cause, 
supported by oath or affirmation reduced to writing. 

Sec. 12. That no person shall, for a felony, be proceeded against 
criminally otherwise than by indictment, except in cases arising in 
the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in 
time of war or public danger; in all other cases, offenses shall be 
prosecuted criminally by indictment or information as concurrent 
remedies. 

Sec. 13. That treason against the State can consist only in 
levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them 
aid and comfort; that no person can be convicted of treason, 
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
or on his confession in open court; that no person can be attainted 
of treason or-felony by the General Assembly; that no conviction 



50 


BILL OF RIGHTS. 


can work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate; that the 
estates of such persons as may destroy their own lives shall descend 
or vest as in cases of natural death; and when any person shall be 

killed by casualty, there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof. 

• 

Sec. 14. That no law shall be passed impairing the freedom of 
speech; that every person shall be free to say, write or publish 
whatever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of 
that liberty; and that in all suits and prosecutions for libel the 
truth thereof may be given in evidence, and the jury, under the 
direction of the court, shall determine the law and the fact. 

Sec. 15. That no ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obli¬ 
gation of contracts, or retrospective in its operation, or making any 
irrevocable grant of special privileges or immunities, can be passed 
by the General Assembly. 

Sec. 16. That imprisonment for debt shall not be allowed, 
-except for the nonpayment of fines and penalties imposed for viola¬ 
tion of law. 

Sec. 17. That the right of no citizen to keep and bear arms in 
defense of his home, person, and property, or in aid of the civil 
power, when thereto legally summoned, shall be called in question; 
but nothing herein contained is intended to justify the practice of 
wearing concealed weapons. 

Sec. 18. That no person elected or appointed to any office or 
employment of trust or profit under the laws of this State, or any 
ordinance of any municipality in this State, shall hold such office 
without personally devoting his time to the performance of the 
duties to the same belonging. 

Sec. 19. That no person who is now, or may hereafter become 
a collector or receiver of public money, or assistant or deputy 
of such collector or receiver, shall be eligible to any office of 
trust or profit in the State of Missouri under the laws thereof, 
or of any municipality therein, until he shall have accounted for 
and paid over all the public money for which he may be accountable. 

Sec. 20. That no private property can be taken for private 
use with or without compensation, unless by the consent of the 
owner, except for private ways of necessity, and except for drains 
and ditches across the land of others for agricultural and sanitary 
purposes in such manner as may be prescribed by law; and 



BILL OF RIGHTS. 


51 


that whenever ail attempt is made to take private property for a 
use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated 
use be really public, shall be a judicial question, and as such 
judicially determined, without regard to any legislative assertion 
that the use is public. 

Sec. 21. That private property shall not be taken or damaged 
for public use without just compensation. Such compensation 
shall be ascertained by a jury or board of commissioners of not 
less than three freeholders, in such manner as may be prescribed 
by law; and until the same shall be paid to the owner, or into 
court for the owner, the property shall not be disturbed or the 
proprietary rights of the owner therein divested. The fee of 
land taken for railroad tracks without consent of the owner thereof, 
shall remain in such owner, subject to the use for which it is taken. 

Sec. 22. In criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the 
right to appear and defend, in person and by counsel; to demand 
the nature and cause of the accusation; to meet the witnesses 
against him face to face ; to have process to compel the attendance 
of witnesses in his behalf; and a speedy, public trial by an 
impartial jury of the county. 

Sec. 23. That no person shall be compelled to testify against 
himself in a criminal cause, nor shall any person after being once 
acquitted by a jury, be again, for the same offense, put in jeopardy 
of life or liberty; but if the jury to which the question of his 
ofuilt or innocence is submitted, fail to render a verdict, the court 
before which the trial is had, may, in its discretion, discharge the 
jury and commit or bail the prisoner for trial at the next term 
of court, or if the state of business will permit, at the same term; 
and if judgment be arrested after a verdict of guilty on a defective 
indictment, or if judgment on a verdict of guilty be reversed for 
error in law, nothing herein contained shall prevent a new trial 
of the prisoner on a proper indictment, or according to correct 
principles of law. 

Sec. 24. That all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, 
except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the pre¬ 
sumption great. 

Sec. 25. That excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive 
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. 



52 


DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS. 


Sec. 26. That the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
never be suspended. 

Sec. 27. That the military shall always be in strict subordi¬ 
nation to the civil power; that no soldier shall, in time of peace, 
be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor 
in time of war, except in the manner prescribed by law. 

Sec. 28. The right of trial by jury, as heretofore enjoyed, 
shall remain inviolate; but a jury for the trial of criminal or civil 
cases, in courts not of record, may consist of less than twelve 
men, as may be prescribed by law. Hereafter a grand jury shall 
consist of twelve men, any nine of whom concurring may find an 
indictment or a true bill. 

Sec. 29. That the people have the right peaceably to assemble 
for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the 
powers of government for redress of grievances by petition or 
remonstrance. 

Sec. 30. That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or 
property without due process of law. 

Sec. 31. That there cannot be in this State either slavery or 
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof 
the party shall have been duly convicted. 

Sec. 32. The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights 
shall not be construed to deny, impair, or disparage others retained 
by the people. 


ARTICLE III. 

THE distribution of powers. 

The powers of government shall be divided into three distinct 
departments—the legislative, executive, and judicial, each of which 
shall be confided to a separate magistracy; and no person, or 
collection of persons, charged with the exercise of powers properly 
belonging to one of those departments, shall exercise any power 
properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances 
in this Constitution expressly directed or permitted. 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-REPRESENTATION. 


53 


ARTICLE IV. 

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1 . The'Legislative power, subject to the limitations 
herein contained, shall be vested in a Senate and House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, to be styled “ The General Assembly of the State of 
Missouri.” 


REPRESENTATION AND APPORTIONMENT. 

Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall consist of members 
to be chosen every second year by the qualified voters of the 
several counties, and apportioned in the following manner: The 
ratio of representation shall be ascertained at each apportioning 
session of the General Assembly, by dividing the whole number of 
inhabitants of the State, as ascertained by the last decennial 
census of the United States, by the number two hundred. Each 
county having one ratio, or less, shall be entitled to one Repre¬ 
sentative ; each county having two and a half times said ratio, 
shall be entitled to two Representatives; each county having four 
times said ratio, shall be entitled to three Representatives; each 
county having six times said ratio, shall be entitled to four Rep¬ 
resentatives, and so on above that number, giving one additional 
member for every two and a half additional ratios. 

Sec. 3. When any county shall be entitled to more than one 
Representative, the county court shall cause such county to be 
subdivided into districts of compact and contiguous territory, 
corresponding in number to the representatives to which such 
county is entitled, and in population as nearly equal as may be, 
in each of which the qualified voters shall elect one Represent¬ 
ative, who shall be a resident of such district: Provided , That 
when any county shall be entitled to more than ten Representatives, 
the circuit court shall cause such county to be subdivided into 
districts, so as to give each district not less than two, nor more 
than four Representatives, who shall be residents of such dis¬ 
trict ; the population of the districts to be proportioned to the 
number of Representatives to be elected therefrom. 



54 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-REPRESENTATION. 


Sec. 4. No person shall be a member of the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-four 
years, who shall not be a male citizen of the United States, 
who shall not have been a qualified voter of this State two years, 
and an inhabitant of the county or district which he may be chosen 
to represent, one year next before the day of his election, if such 
county or district shall have been so long established ; but if not, 
then of the county or district from which the same shall have 
been taken, and who shall not have paid a State and county tax 
within one year next preceding the election. 

Sec. 5. The Senate shall consist of thirty-four members, to be 
chosen by the qualified voters of their respective districts for four 
years. For the election of [Senators the State shall be divided 
into convenient districts, as nearly equal in population as may 
be, the same to be ascertained by the last decennial census taken 
by the United States.j^, 

Sec. 6. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained 
the age of thirty years, who shall not be a male citizen of the 
United States, who shall not have - been a qualified voter of this 
State three years, and an inhabitant of the district which he may 
be chosen to represent, one year next before the day of his elec¬ 
tion, if such district shall have been so long established ; but if 
not, then of the district or districts from wkich the same shall 
have been taken, and who shall not have paid a State and county 
tax within one year next preceding the election. When any county 
shall be entitled to more than one Senator, the circuit court 
shall cause such county to be subdivided into districts of com¬ 
pact and contiguous territory, and of population as nearly equal 
as may be, corresponding in number with the Senators to which 
such county may be entitled; and in each of these one Senator, 
who shall be a resident of such district, shall be elected by 
the qualified voters thereof. 

Sec. 7. Senators and Representatives shall be chosen accord¬ 
ing to the rule of apportionment established in this Constitution, 
until the next decennial census by the United States shall have 
been taken, and the result thereof as to this State ascertained, 
when the apportionment shall be revised and adjusted on the 
basis of that census, and every ten years thereafter upon the 
basis of the United States census; or if such census be not taken, 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-REPRESENTATION. 


55 


or is delayed, then on the basis of a State census; such appor¬ 
tionment to be made at the first session of the General Assembly 
after each such census: Provided , That if at any time, or from 
any cause, the General Assembly shall fail or refuse to district the 
State for Senators, as required in this section, it shall be the duty 
of the Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney-General, within 
thirty days after the adjournment of the General Assembly on 
which such duty devolved, to perform said duty, and to file in 
the office of the Secretary of State a full statement of the districts 
formed by them, including the names of the counties embraced 
in each district, and the numbers thereof; said statement to be 
signed by them, and attested by the Great Seal of the State, and 
upon the proclamation of the Governor, the same shall be as 
binding and effectual as if done by the General Assembly. 

Sec. 8 . Until an apportionment of Representatives can be 
made, in accordance with the provisions of this Article, the 
House of Representatives shall consist of one hundred and forty- 
three members, which shall be divided among the several counties 
of the State, as follows: The county of St. Louis shall have 
seventeen; the county of Jackson four; the county of Buchanan 
three; the counties of Franklin, Greene, Johnson, Lafayette, 
Macon, Marion, Pike, and Saline, each two, and each of the other 
counties in the State one. 

Sec. 9. Senatorial and Representative Districts may be altered, 
from time to time, as public convenience may require. When 
any Senatorial District shall be composed of two or more 
counties, they shall be contiguous; such districts to be as com¬ 
pact as may be, and in the formation of the same no county shall 
be divided. 

Sec. 10. The first election of Senators and Representatives, 
under this Constitution, shall be held at the general election 
in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, when 
the whole number of Representatives, and the Senators from the 
districts having odd numbers, who shall compose the first class, 
shall be chosen; and in one thousand eight hundred and seventy- 
eight, the Senators from the districts having even numbers, who 
shall compose the second class, and so on at each succeeding 
general election, half the Senators provided for by this Constitu¬ 
tion shall be chosen. 



56 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-APPORTIONMENT. 


Sec. 11. Until the State shall be divided into Senatorial 
Districts, in accordance with the provisions of this Article, said 
Districts shall be constituted and numbered as follows : 

The First District shall be composed ot the counties of Andrew, 
Holt, Nodaway, and Atchison. 

Second District—The counties of Buchanan, DeKalb, Gentry, 
and Worth. 

Third District—The counties of Clay, Clinton, and Platte. 

Fourth District—The counties of Caldwell* Ray, Daviess, and 
Harrison. 

Fifth District—The counties of Livingston, Grundy, Mercer, 
and Carroll. 

Sixth District—The counties of Linn, Sullivan, Putnam, and 
Chariton. 

Seventh District—The counties of Randolph, Howard, and 
Monroe. 

Eighth District—The counties of Adair, Macon, and Schuyler. 

Ninth District—The counties of Audrain, Boone, and Calla¬ 
way. 

Tenth District—The counties of St. Charles and Warren. 

Eleventh District—The counties of Pike, Lincoln, and Mont¬ 
gomery. 

Twelfth District—The counties of Lewis, Clark, Scotland, and 
Knox. 

Thirteenth District—The counties of Marion, Shelby, and Ralls. 

Fourteenth District—The counties of Bates, Cass, and Henry. 

Fifteenth District—The county of Jackson. 

Sixteenth District—The counties of Vernon, Barton, Jasper, 
Newton, and McDonald. 

Seventeenth District—The counties of Lafayette and Johnson. 

Eighteenth District—The counties of Greene, Lawrence, Barry, 
Stone, and Christian. 

Nineteenth District—The counties of Saline, Pettis, and Benton. 

Twentieth District—The counties of Polk, Hickory, Dallas, 
Dade, Cedar, and St. Clair. 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT—APPORTIONMENT. 


57 


Twenty-first District—The counties of Laclede, Webster, Wright, 
Texas, Douglas, Taney, Ozark, and Howell. 

Twenty-second District—The counties of Phelps, Miller, Maries, 
Camden, Pulaski, Crawford, and Dent. 

Twenty-third District—The counties of Cape Girardeau, Missis¬ 
sippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Stoddard, and Scott. 

Twenty-fourth District—The counties of Iron, Madison, Bol¬ 
linger, Wayne, Butler, Reynolds, Carter, Ripley, Oregon, and 
Shannon. 

Twenty-fifth District—The counties of Franklin, Gasconade, 
and Osage. 

Twenty-sixth District—The counties of Washington, Jefferson, 
St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and Perry. 

Twenty-eighth District—The counties of Cooper, Moniteau, 
Morgan, and Cole. 

St. Louis County shall be divided into seven districts, numbered 
respectively, as follows : 

Twenty-seventh, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first, Thirty- 
second, Thirty-third, and Thirty-fourth. 

Sec. 12. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term 
for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any office 
under this State, or any municipality thereof; and no member 
of Congress or person holding any lucrative office under the United 
States, or this State, or any municipality thereof, (militia officers, 
justices of the peace, and notaries public excepted,) shall be 
eligible to either house of the General Assembly, or remain a 
mepiber thereof, after having accepted any such office or seat in 
either house of Congress. 

Sec. 13. If any Senator or Representative remove his residence 
from the district or county for which he was elected, his office 
shall thereby be vacated. 

Sec. 14. Writs of election to fill such vacancies as may occur 
in either house of the General Assembly, shall be issued by the 
Governor. 

Sec. 15. Every Senator and Representative elect, before 
entering upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe 
the following oath or affirmation: “I do solemnly swear, [or 




58 


LEGISL ATI VE DEPARTMENT —COMPENSATION. 


affirm,] that I will support the Constitution of the United States 
and of the State of Missouri, and faithfully perform the duties 
of my office; and that I will not knowingly receive, directly or 
indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, for the performance 
or nonperformauce of any act or duty pertaining to my office, other 
than the compensation allowed by law.” The oath shall be 
administered in the halls of their respective houses, to the 
members thereof, by some judge of the Supreme Court, or the 
Circuit Court, or the County Court of Cole County, or after 

the organization, by the presiding officer of either house, and 
shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. Any 
member of either house refusing to take said oath or affirmation, 
shall be deemed to have thereby vacated his office, and any 
member convicted of having violated his oath or affirmation, shall 
be deemed guilty of perjury, and be forever thereafter disquali¬ 
fied from holding any office of trust or profit in this State. 

Sec. 16. The members of the General Assembly shall severally 
receive from the public treasury such compensation for their 
services as may, from time to time, be provided by law, not 

to exceed five dollars per day for the first seventy days of 

each session, and after that not to exceed one dollar per day 

for the remainder of the session, except the first session held 
under this Constitution, and during revising sessions, when they 
may receive five dollars per day for one hundred and twenty 
days, and one dollar per day for the remainder of such ses¬ 
sions. In addition to per diem, the members shall be entitled 
to receive traveling expenses or mileage, for any regular and 
extra session not greater than now provided by law; but no 
member shall be entitled to traveling expenses or mileage Tor 
any extra session that may be called within one day after an 
adjournment of a regular session. Committees of either House, 
or joint committees of both Houses, appointed to examine the 
institutions of the State, other than those at the seat of Govern¬ 
ment, may receive their actual expenses, necessarily incurred 
while in the performance of such duty; the items of such 
expenses to be returned to the chairman of such committee, 
and by him certified to the State Auditor, before the same, 
or any part thereof, can be paid. Each member may receive 
at each regular session an additional sum of thirty dollars, which 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT—COMPENSATION. 


59 


shall be in full for all stationery used in his official capacity, 
and all postage, and all other incidental expenses and perquisites; 
and no allowance or emoluments, for any purpose whatever, 
shall be made to, or received by the members, or any member 
of either House, or for their use, out of the contingent fund 
or otherwise, except as herein expressly provided; and no allow¬ 
ance or emolument, for any purpose whatever, shall ever be 
paid to any officer, agent, servant or employee of either house 
of the General Assembly, or of any committee thereof, except 
such per diem as may be provided for by law, not to exceed 
five dollars. 

Sec. 17. Each House shall appoint its own officers; shall be 
sole judge of the qualifications, election, and returns of its own 
members; may determine the rules of its own proceedings, except 
as herein provided ; may arrest and punish by fine not exceeding 
three hundred dollars, or imprisonment in a county jail not exceed¬ 
ing ten days, or both, any person, not a member, who shall be guilty 
of disrespect to the House by any disorderly or contemptuous 
behavior in its presence during its sessions; may punish its mem¬ 
bers for disorderly conduct; and with the concurrence of two-thirds 
of all members elect, may expel a member; but no member shall be 
expelled a second time for the same cause. 

Sec. 18. A majority of the whole number of members of each 
House shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller num¬ 
ber may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance 
of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as each 
House may provide. 

Sec. 19. The sessions of each House shall be held with open 
doors, except in cases which may require secrecy. 

Sec. 20. The General Assembly elected in the year one thou¬ 
sand eight hundred and seventy-six shall meet on the first Wednes¬ 
day after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-seven; and thereafter the General Assembly shall meet in 
regular session once only in every two years; and such meeting 
shall be on the first Wednesday after the first day of January next 
after the elections of the members thereof. 

Sec. 21. Every adjournment or recess taken by the General 
Assembly for more than three days, shall have the effect of and be 
an adjournment sine die . 




60 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-PROCEEDINGS. 


* 

Sec. 22. Every adjournment or recess taken by the General 
Assembly for three days or less, shall be construed as not inter¬ 
rupting the session at which they are had or taken, but as continu¬ 
ing the session for all the purposes mentioned in section sixteen of 
this article. 

Sec. 23. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, 
adjourn for more than two days at any one time, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two Houses may be sitting. 

LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 

Sec. 24. The style of the laws of this State shall be: “ Be 
it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri , as 
follows .” 

Sec. 25. No law shall be passed, except bjr bill, and no bill 
shall be so amended in its passage through either House, as to 
change its original purpose. 

Sec. 26. Bills may originate in either House, and may be 
amended or rejected by the other; and every bill shall be read on 
three different days in each House. 

Sec. 27. No bill shall be considered for final passage unless the 
same has been reported upon by a committee and printed for the use 
of the members. 

Sec. 28. No bill (except general appropriation bills, which may 
embrace the various subjects and accounts for and on account of 
which moneys are appropriated, and except bills passed under the 
third sub-division of section forty-four of this article) shall contain 
more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title. 

Sec. 29. All amendments adopted by either House to a bill 
pending and originating in the same, shall be incorporated with the 
bill by engrossment, and the bill as thus engrossed, shall be printed 
for the use of the members before its final passage. The engrossing 
and printing shall be under the supervision of a committee, whose 
report to the House shall set forth, in writing, that they find the bill 
truly engrossed, and that the printed copy furnished to the members 
is correct. 

Sec. 30. If a bill passed by either House be returned thereto, 
amended by the other, the House to which the same is returned shall 





LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-PROCEEDINGS. 


61 


cause the amendment or amendments so received to be printed under 
the same supervision, as provided in the next preceding section, for 
the use of the members before final action on such amendments. 

Sec. 31. No bill shall become a law, unless on its final passage 
the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the members 
voting for and against the same be entered on the journal, and a 
majority of the members elected to each House be recorded thereon 
as voting in its favor. 

Sec. 32. No amendment to bills by one House shall be con¬ 
curred in by the other, except by a vote of a majority of the 
members elected thereto, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of 
those voting for and against recorded upon the journal thereof; and 
reports of committees of conference shall be adopted in either 
House only by the vote of a majority of the members elected there¬ 
to, taken by yeas and nays, and the names of those voting recorded 
upon the journal. 

Sec. 33. No act shall be revived or re-enacted by mere refer¬ 
ence to the title thereof, but the same shall be set forth at length, as 
if it were an original act. 

Sec. 34. No act shall be amended by providing that designated 
words thereof be stricken out, or that designated words be inserted, 
or that designated words be stricken out and others inserted in lieu 
thereof; but the words to be stricken out, or the words to be 
inserted, or the words to be stricken out and those inserted in lieu 
thereof, together with the act or section amended, shall be set forth 
in full as amended. 

Sec. 35. When a bill is put upon its final passage in either 
House, and failing to pass, a motion is made to reconsider the vote 
by which it was defeated, the vote upon such motion to reconsider 
shall be immediately taken, and the subject finally disposed of 
before the House proceeds to any other business. 

Sec. 36. No law passed by the General Assembly, except 
the general appropriation act, shall take effect or go into force 
until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it 
was enacted, unless in case of an emergency (which emergency 
must be expressed in the preamble or in the body of the act), the 
General Assembly shall, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members 
elected to each House, otherwise direct; said vote to be taken by 
yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal. 








62 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT—PROCEEDINGS. 


Sec. 37. No bill shall become a law until the same shall have 
have been signed by the presiding officer of each of the two Houses 
in open session; and before such officer shall affix his signature to 
any bill, he shall suspend all other business, declare that such bill 
will now be read, and that, if no objections be made, he will sign 
the same to the end that it may become a law. The bill shall then 
be read at length, and if no objections be made, he shall, in presence 
of the House in open session, and before any other business is 
entertained, affix his signature, which fact shall be noted on the 
journal, and the bill immediately sent to the other House. When 
it reaches the other House, the presiding officer thereof shall imme¬ 
diately suspend all other business, announce the reception of the 
bill, and the same proceedings shall thereupon be observed, in every 
respect, as in the House in which it was first signed. If in either 
House any member shall object that any substitution, omission or 
insertion has occurred, so that the bill proposed to be signed is not 
the same in substance and form as when considered and passed by 
the House, or that any particular clause of this Article of the Con¬ 
stitution has been violated in its passage, such objection shall be 
passed upon by the House, and if sustained, the presiding officer 
shall withhold his signature; but if such objection shall not be 
sustained, then any five members may embody the same, over their 
signatures, in a written protest, under oath, against the signing of 
the bill. Said protest when offered in the House shall be noted 
upon the journal, and the original shall be annexed to the bill to be 
considered by the Governor in connection therewith. 

Sec. 38. When the bill has been signed, as provided for in the 
preceeding section, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the 
Senate, if the bill originated in the Senate, and of the Chief Clerk 
of the House of Representatives, if the bill originated in the House, 
to present the same in person, on the same day on which it was 
signed as aforesaid, to the Governor, and enter the fact upon the 
journal. Every bill presented to the Governor, and returned within 
ten days to the House in which the same originated, with the 
approval of the Governor, shall become a law, unless it be in vio¬ 
lation of some provision of this Constitution. 

Sec. 39. Every bill presented as aforesaid, but returned without 
the approval of the Governor, and with his objections thereto, 
shall stand as reconsidered in the House to which it is returned. 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT—PROCEEDINGS. 


63 


The House shall cause the objections of the Governor to be entered 
at large upon the journal, and proceed, at its convenience, to con¬ 
sider the question pending, which shall be in this form : “ Shall the 
bill pass, the objections of the Governor thereto notwithstanding? ’’ 
The vote upon this question shall be taken by yeas and nays, and 
the names entered upon the journal, and if two-thirds of all 
the members elected to the House vote in the affirmative, the pre¬ 
siding officer of that House shall certify that fact on the roll, attest¬ 
ing the same by his signature, and send the bill, with the objections 
of the Governor, to the other House, in which like proceedings 
shall be had in relation thereto; and if the bill receive a like 
majority of the votes of all the members elected to that House, the 
vote being taking by yeas and nays, the presiding officer thereof 
shall, in like manner, certify the fact upon the bill. The bill thus 
certified shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, as 
an authentic act, and shall become a law in the same manner and 
with like effect as if it had received the approval of the Governor. 

Sec. 40. Whenever the Governor shall fail to perform his duty, 
as prescribed in section twelve, Article V of this Constitution, in 
relation to any bill presented to him for his approval, the General 
Assembly may, by joint resolution, reciting the fact of such failure 
and the bill at length, direct the Secretary of State to enroll the 
same as an authentic act, in the archives of the State, and such 
enrollment shall have the same effect as an approval by the Governor : 
Provided, That such joint resolution shall not be submitted to the 
Governor for his approval. 

Sec. 41. Within five years after the adoption of this Consti¬ 
tution, all the statute laws of a general nature, both civil and 
criminal, shall be revised, digested, and promulgated in such manner 
as the General Assembly shall direct; and a like revision, digest and 
promulgation, shall be made at the expiration of every subsequent 
period of ten years. 

Sec. 42. Each House shall, from time to time, publish a journal 
of its proceedings, and the yeas and nays on any question shall.be 
taken and entered on the journal at the motion of any two members. 
Whenever the yeas and nays are demanded the whole list of 
members shall be called, and the names of the absentees shall be 
noted and published in the journal. 



64 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-POWERS AND DUTY. 


LIMITATION ON LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

Sec. 43. All revenue collected and moneys received by the 
State from any source whatsoever, shall go into the treasury, and 
the General Assembly shall have no power to divert the same, or to 
permit money to be drawn from the treasurj 7 , except in pursuance 
of regular appropriations made by law. All appropriations of 
money by the successive General Assemblies shall be made in the 
following order: 

First —For the payment of all interest upon the bonded debt of 
the State that may become due during the term for which each Gen • 
eral Assembly is elected. 

Second —For the benefit of the sinking fund, which shall not be 
less annually than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

Third —For free public school purposes. 

Fourth —For the payment of the cost of assessing and collecting 
the revenue. 

Fifth —For the payment of the civil list. 

Sixth —For the support of the eleemosynary institutions of the 
State. 

Seventh —For the pay of the General Assembly, and such other 
purposes not herein prohibited, as it may deem necessary; but no 
General Assembly shall have power to make any appropriation of 
money for any purpose whatsoever, until the respective sums neces¬ 
sary for the purposes in this section specified have been set apart 
and appropriated, or to give priority in its action to a succeeding 
over a preceding item as above enumerated. 

Sec. 44. The General Assemby shall have no power to contract 
or to authorize the contracting of any debt or liability on behalf of 
the State, or to issue bonds or other evidences of indebtedness 
thereof, except in the following cases : 

First —In renewal of existing bonds, when they can not be paid 
at maturity, out of the sinking fund or other resources. 

Second —On the occurring of an unforeseen emergency, or casual 
deficiency of the revenue when the temporary liability incurred, upon 
the recommendation of the Governor first had, shall not exceed the 
sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for any one year, to 
be paid in not more than two years from and after its creation. 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-POWERS AND DUTY. 


65 


Third —On the occurring of any unforeseen emergency or casual 
deficiency of the revenue, when the temporary liability incurred or 
to be incurred shall exceed the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars for any one year, the General Assembly may submit an act, 
providing for the loan, or for the contracting of the liability, and 
containing a provision for levying a tax sufficient to pay the interest 
and principal when they become due, (the latter in not more than 
thirteen years from the date of its creation) to the qualified voters 
of the State, and when the act so submitted, shall have been ratified 
by a two-thirds majority, at an election held for that purpose, due 
publication having been made of the provisions of the act for at least 
three months before such election, the act thus ratified shall be irre- 
pealable until the debt thereby incurred shall be paid, principal and 
interest. 

Sec. 45. The General Assembly shall have no power to give or 
to lend, or to authorize the giving or lending of the credit of the 
State in aid of or to any person, association, or corporation, whether 
municipal or other, or to pledge the credit of the State in any man¬ 
ner whatsoever, for the payment of the liabilities, present or pros¬ 
pective, of any individual, association of individuals, municipal or 
other corporation whatsoever. 

Sec. 46. The General Assembly shall have no power to make any 
grant, or to authorize the making of any grant of public money or 
thing of value to any individual, association of individuals, munic¬ 
ipal or other corporation whatsoever : Provided , That this shall 
not be so construed as to prevent the grant of aid in a case of public 
calamity. 

Sec. 47. The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize 
any county, city, town or township, or other political corporation or 
subdivision of the State now existing, or that may be hereafter 
established, to lend its credit, or to grant public money or thing of 
value in aid of, or to any individual, association or corporation 
whatsoever, or to become a stockholder in such corporation, asso¬ 
ciation or company. 

Sec. 48. The General Assembly shall have no power to grant, or 
to authorize any county or municipal authority to grant any extra 
compensation, fee or allowance to a public officer, agent, servant or 
•contractor, after service has been rendered or a contract has been 





66 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-POWERS AND DUTY. 


entered into and performed in whole or in part, nor pay nor author¬ 
ize the payment of any claim hereafter created against the State, or 
any county or municipality of the State under any agreement or con¬ 
tract made without express authority of law; and all such unau¬ 
thorized agreements or contracts shall be null and void. 

Sec. 49. The General Assembly shall have no power hereafter 
to subscribe or authorize the subscription of stock on behalf of the 
State, in any corporation or association, except for the purpose of 
securing loans heretofore extended to certain railroad corpora¬ 
tions by the State. 

Sec. 50. The General Assembly shall have no power to release 
or alienate the lien held by the State upon any railroad, or in 
anywise change the tenor or meaning, or pass any act explanatory 
thereof; but the same shall be enforced in accordance with the 
original terms upon which it was acquired. 

Sec. 51. The General Assembly shall have no power to release 
or extinguish, or authorize the releasing or extinguishing, in whole 
or in part, the indebtedness, liability, or obligation of any corpora¬ 
tion or individual, to this State, or to any county or other municipal 
corporation therein. 

Sec. 52. The General Assembly shall have no power to make 
any appropriation of money, or to issue any bonds or other 
evidences of indebtedness for the payment, or on account, or in 
recognition of any claims audited, or that may hereafter be audited 
by virtue of an act entitled “An act to audit and adjust the 
war debt of the State,” approved March 19, 1874, or any act 
of a similar nature, until after the claims so audited shall have 
been presented to and paid by the Government of the United 
States to the State of Missouri. 

Sec. 53. The General Assembly shall not pass any local or 
special law: 

Authorizing the creation, extension or impairing of liens : 

Regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards or 
school districts : 

Changing the names of persons or places : 

Changing the venue in civil or criminal cases: 



LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-POWERS AND DUTY. 


67 


Authorizing the laying out, opening, altering or maintaining 
roads, highways, streets or alleys : 

Relating to ferries or bridges, or incorporating ferry or bridge 
companies, except for the erection of bridges crossing streams 
which form boundaries between this and any other State: 

Vacating roads, town plats, streets or alleys : 

Relating to cemeteries, grave yards or public grounds not of 
the State : 

Authorizing the adoption or legitimation of children : 

Locating or changing countv seats : 

Incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing their 
charters : 

For the opening and conducting of elections, or fixing or chang¬ 
ing the places of voting: 

Granting divorces : 

Erecting new townships, or changing township lines, or the 
lines of school districts : 

Creating offices, or prescribing the powers and duties of officers 
in counties, cities, townships, election or school districts : 

Changing the law of descent or succession : 

Regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules 
of evidence in, any judicial proceeding or inquiry before courts, 
justices of the peace, sheriffs, commissioners, arbitrators or other 
tribunals, or providing or changing methods for the collection of 
debts, or the enforcing of judgments, or prescribing the effect of 
judicial sales of real estate : 

Regulating the fees or extending the powers and duties of 
aldermen, justices of the peace, magistrates, or constables: 

Regulating the management of public schools, the building or 
repairing of school houses, and the raising of money for such 
purposes : 

Fixing the rate of interest: 

Affecting the estates of minors or persons under disability : 




68 


LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT-POWERS AND DUTY. 


Remitting fines, penalties, and forfeitures, or refunding moneys 
legally paid into the treasury : 

Exempting property from taxation : 

Regulating labor, trade, mining or manufacturing: 

Creating corporations, or amending, renewing, extending or 
explaining the charter thereof: 

Granting to any corporation, association or individual any 
special or exclusive right, privilege or immunity, or to any 
corporation, association or individual, the right to lay down a 
railroad track : 

Declaring any named person of age : 

Extending the time for the assessment or collection of taxes, 
or otherwise relieving any assessor or collector of taxes from the 
due performance of their official duties, or their securities from 
liability^: 

Giving effect to informal or invalid wills or deeds : 

Summoning or empanneling grand or petit juries : 

For limitation of civil actions : 

Legalizing the unauthorized or invalid acts of any officer or 
agent of the State, or of any county or municipality thereof. In 
all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no 
local or special law shall be enacted ; and whether a general law 
could have been made applicable in any case, is hereby declared 
a judicial question, and as such shall be judicially determined 
without regard to any legislative assertion on that subject: 

Nor shall the General Assembly indirectly enact such special or 
local law by the partial repeal of a general law; but laws repealing 
local or special acts may be passed. 

Sec. 54. No local or special law shall be passed unless notice 
of the intention to apply therefor shall have been published in 
the locality where the matter or thing to be affected may be sit¬ 
uated, which notice shall state the substance of the contemplated 
law, and shall be published at least thirty days prior to the intro¬ 
duction into the General Assembly of such bill, and in the man¬ 
ner to be provided by law. The evidence of such notice having 
been published, shall be exhibited in the General Assembly before 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT—GOVERNOR, ETC. 


69 


such act shall be passed, and the notice shall be recited in the 
act according to its tenor. 

hEC. 55. The General Assembly shall have no power, when 
convened in extra session by the Governor, to act upon subjects 
other than those specially designated in the proclamation by which 
the session is called, or recommended by special message to its 
consideration by the Governor after it shall have been convened. 

Sec. 56. The General Assembly shall have no power to remove 
the Seat of Government of this State from the City of Jefferson. 

ARTICLE V. 

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1 . The Executive department shall consist of a Gov¬ 
ernor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, 
State Treasurer, Attorney General, and Superintendent of Public 
Schools, all of whom, except the Lieutenant Governor, shall reside 
at the Seat of Government during their term of office, and keep 
the public records, books, and papers there, and shall perform 
such duties as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 2. The term of office of the Governor, Lieutenant Gov¬ 
ernor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney 
General, and Superintendent of Public Schools, shall be four 
years from the second Monday of January next after their elec¬ 
tion, and until their successors are elected and qualified; and 
the Governor and State Treasurer shall be ineligible to re-elec¬ 
tion as their own successors. At the general election to be held 
in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, and every 
four years thereafter, all of such officers, except the Superintendent 
of Public Schools, shall be elected; and the Superintendent ot 
Public Schools shall be elected at the general election in the 
year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, and every 
four years thereafter. 

Sec. 3. The returns of every election for the above-named 
officers shall be sealed up and transmitted by the returning officers 
to the Secretary of State, directed to the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, who shall immediately after the organization 




70 


EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


of the House, and before proceeding to other business, open and 
publish the same in the presence of a majority of each House of 
the General Assembly, who shall for that purpose assemble in 
the hall of the House of Representatives. The person having 
the highest number of votes for either of said offices shall be 
declared duly elected ; but if two or more shall have an equal and 
the highest number of votes, the General Assembly shall, by joint 
vote, choose one of such persons for said office. 

Sec. 4. The supreme Executive power shall be vested in a 
Chief Magistrate, who shall be styled “ The Governor of the State 
of Missouri.” 

Sec. 5. The Governor shall be at least thirty-five years old, 
a male, and shall have been a citizen of the United States ten 
years, and a resident of this State seven years next before his 
election. 

Sec. 6 . The Governor shall take care that the laws are dis¬ 
tributed and faithfully executed; and he shall be a conservator 
of the peace throughout the State. 

Sec. 7. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the 
militia of this State, except when they shall be called into the 
service of the United States, and may call out the same to execute 
the laws, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion; but he need 
not command in person unless directed so to do by a resolution 
of the General Assembly. 

Sec. 8. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves, 
commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses, except 
treason and cases of impeachment, upon such condition and with 
such restrictions and limitations as he may think proper, subject 
to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the 
manner of applying for pardons. He shall, at each session of the 
General Assembly, communicate to that body each case of reprieve, 
commutation or pardon granted, stating the name of the convict, 
the crime of which he was convicted, the sentence and its date, 
the date of the commutation, pardon or reprieve, and the reason 
for granting the same. 

Sec. 9. The Governor shall, from time to time, give to the 
General Assembly information relative to the state of the govern¬ 
ment, and shall recommend to its consideration such measures as 




EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


71 


he shall deem necessary and expedient. On extraordinary occasions 
he may convene the General Assembly by proclamation, wherein 
he shall state specifically each matter concerning which the action 
of that body is deemed necessary. 

Sec. 10. The Governor shall, at the commencement of each 
session of the General Assembly, and at the close of his term 
of office, give information by message of the condition of the 
State, and shall recommend such measures as he shall deem 
expedient. He shall account to the General Assembly, in such 
manner as may be prescribed by law, for all moneys received 
and paid out by him from any funds subject to his order, 
with vouchers; and at the commencement of each regular ses¬ 
sion, present estimates of the amount of money required to be 
raised by taxation for all purposes. 

Sec. 11. When any office shall become vacant the Governor, 
unless otherwise provided by law, shall appoint a person to 
fill such vacancy, who shall continue in office until a successor 
shall have been duly elected or appointed and qualified according 
to law. 

Sec. 12. The Governor shall consider all bills and joint resolu¬ 
tions, which, having been passed by both Houses of the General 
Assembly, shall be presented to him. He shall, within ten days 
after the same shall have been presented to him, return to the 
House in which they respectively originated, all such bills and joint 
resolutions, with his approval endorsed thereon, or accompanied by 
his objections: Provided , That if the General Assembly shall 
finally adjourn within ten days after such presentation, the Gov¬ 
ernor may, within thirty days thereafter, return such bills and reso¬ 
lutions to the office of the Secretary of State, with his approval or 
reasons for disapproval. 

Sec. 13. If any bill presented to the Governor contain several 
items of appropriation of money, lie may object to one or more 
items while approving other portions of the bill. In such case he 
shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the 
items to which he objects, and the appropriations so objected to 
shall not take effect. If the General Assembly be in session, he 
:shall transmit to the House in which the bill originated a copy of 




72 


EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


such statement, and the items objected to shall be separately recon¬ 
sidered. If it be not in session, then he shall transmit the same 
within thirty days to the office of Secretary of State, with his 
approval or reasons for disapproval. 

Sec. 14. Every resolution to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, except on 
questions of adjournment, of going into joint session, and of 
amending this Constitution, shall be presented to the Governor, and 
before the same shall take effect, shall be proceeded upon in the 
same manner as in the case of a bill: Provided , That no resolu¬ 
tion shall have the effect to repeal, extend, alter or amend any 
law. 

Sec. 15. The Lieutenant Governor shall possess the same 
qualifications as the Governor, and by virtue of his office shall be 
President of the Senate. In Committee of the Whole he may 
debate all questions ; and when there is an equal division he shall 
give the casting vote in the Senate, and also in joint vote of bothi 
Houses. 

Sec. 16. In case of death, conviction or impeachment, failure 
to qualify, resignation, absence from the State, or other disability 
of the Governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office 
for the residue of the term, or until the disability shall be removed, 
shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor. 

Sec. 17. The Senate shall # choose a President p^o tempore to 
preside in cases of the absence or impeachment of the Lieutenant 
Governor, or when he shall hold the office of Governor. If there 
be no Lieutenant Governor, or the Lieutenant Governor shall for 
any of the causes specified in section sixteen of this Article, become 
incapable of performing the duties of the office, the President of 
the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy is filled or the 
disability removed; and if the President of the Senate, for any of 
the above named causes, shall become incapable of performing the 
duties of Governor, the same shall devolve upon the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives, in the same manner, and with the 
same powers and compensation as are prescribed in the case of the 
office devolving upon the Lieutenant Governor. 

Sec. 18. The Lieutenant Governor or the President pro tem- 
po7'e of the Senate, while presiding in the Senate, shall receive 




EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 


73 


the same compensation as shall be allowed to the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives. 

bEC. 19. No person shall be eligible to the office of Secretary 
ot State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney General, or 
Superintendent of Public Schools, unless he be a male citizen of 
the United States and at least twenty-five years old, and shall have 
resided in this State at least five years next before his election. 

Sec. 20. The Secretary of State shall be the custodian of the 
seal of the State, and authenticate therewith all official acts of the 
Governor, his approval of laws excepted. The said seal shall be 
called the “Great Seal of the State of Missouri,” and the emblems 
and devices thereof, heretofore prescribed b} r law, shall not be sub¬ 
ject to change. 

Sec. 21. The Secretary of State shall keep a register of the 
official acts of the Governor, and when necessary, shall attest them, 
and lay copies of the same, together with copies of all papers 
relative thereto, before either House of the General Assembly 
whenever required to do so. 

Sec. 22. An account shall be kept by the officers of the 
Executive Department of all moneys and choses in action dis¬ 
bursed, or otherwise disposed of by them, severally, from all 
sources, and for every service performed; and a semi-annual 
report thereof shall be made to the Governor under oath. The 
Governor may at any time require information, in writing, under 
oath, from the officers of the Executive Department, and all 
officers and managers of State institutions, upon any subject 
relating to the condition, management and expenses of their 
respective offices and institutions; which information, when so 
required, shall be furnished by such officers and managers, and 
any officer or manager who at any time shall make a false report, 
shall be guilty of perjury and punished accordingly. 

Sec. 23. The Governor shall commission all officers not other¬ 
wise provided for by law. All commissions shall run in the name 
and by the authority of the State of Missouri, be signed by the 
Governor, sealed with the Great Seal of the State of Missouri, 
and attested by the Secretary of State. 

Sec. 24. The officers named in this article shall receive for 
their services a salary to be established by law, which shall 





74 


JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT—COURTS. 


not be increased or diminished during their official terms; and 
they shall not, after the expiration of the terms of those in office 
at the adoption of this Constitution, receive to their own use any 
fees, costs, perquisites of office, or other compensation. All fees 
that may hereafter be payable by law for any service performed 
by any officer provided for in this Article shall be paid in advance 
into the State Treasury. 

Sec. 25. Contested elections of Governor and Lieutenant Gov¬ 
ernor shall be decided by a joint vote of both Houses of the 
General Assembly, in such manner as may be provided by law ; 
and contested elections of Secretary of State, State Auditor, State 
Treasurer, Attorney General and Superintendent of Public Schools 
shall be decided before such tribunal and in such manner as may 
be provided by law. 


ARTICLE VI. 

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1. The judicial power of the State, as to matters of 
law and equity, except as in this Constitution otherwise provided, 
shall be vested in a Supreme Court, the St. Louis Court of 
Appeals, Circuit Courts, Criminal Courts, Probate Courts, County 
Courts, and Municipal Corporation Courts. 

Sec. 2. The Supreme Court, except in cases otherwise directed 
by this Constitution, shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which 
shall be coextensive with the State, under the restrictions and 
limitations in this Constitution provided. 

Sec. 3. The Supreme Court shall have a general superin¬ 
tending control over all inferior courts. It shall have power 
to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, certi¬ 
orari, and other original remedial writs, and to hear and determine 
the same. 

Sec. 4. The judges of the Supreme Court shall hold office for 
the term of ten years. The judge oldest in commission shall be 
Chief Justice of the Court ; and if there be more than one com¬ 
mission of the same date, the Court may select the Chief Justice 
from the judges holding the same. 




JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT-COURTS. 


75 


Sec. 5. The Supreme Court shall consist of five judges, any 
three of whom shall constitute a quorum; and said judges shall 
be conservators of the peace throughout the State, and shall be 
elected by the qualified voters thereof. 

Sec. 6 . The judges of the Supreme Court shall be citizens 
of the United States, not less than thirty years old, and shall 
have been citizens of this State for five years next preceding 
their election or appointment, and shall be learned in the law. 

Sec. 7. The full terms of the judges of the Supreme Court 
shall commence on the first day of January next ensuing their 
election, and those elected to fill any vacancy shall also enter 
upon the discharge of their duties on the first day of January 
next ensuing such election. Those appointed shall enter upon 
the discharge of their duties as soon as qualified. 

Sec. 8. The present judges of the Supreme Court shall remain 
in office until the expiration of their respective terms of office. 
To fill their places as their terms expire, one judge shall be 
elected at the general election in eighteen hundred and seventy- 
six, and one every two years thereafter. 

Sec. 9. The Supreme Court shall be held at the Seat of 
Government at such times as may be prescribed by law; and 
until otherwise directed by law, the terms of said court shall 
commence on the third Tuesday in October and April of each 
year. 

Sec. 10. The State shall provide a suitable court room at 
the Seat of Government, in which the Supreme Court shall hold 
its sessions; also a clerk’s office, furnished offices for the judges, 
and the use of the State Library. 

Sec. 11. If, in any cause pending in the Supreme Court, or 
the St. Louis Court of Appeals, the judges sitting shall be 
equally divided in opinion, no judgment shall be entered therein 
based on such division; but the parties to the cause may agree 
upon some person, learned in the law, to act as special judge 
in the cause, who shall therein sit with the court, and give 
decision in the same manner and with the same effect as one 
of the judges. If the parties cannot agree upon a special judge, 
the Court shall appoint one. 





76 


JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT—COURT OF APPEALS. 


Sec. 12. There is hereby established in the city of St. Louis 
an appellate court, to be known as the “St. Louis Court of 
Appeals,” the jurisdiction of which shall be coextensive with 
the city of St. Louis and the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, 
Lincoln, and Warren. Said court shall have power to issue writs 
of habeas corpus, quo warranto, mandamus, certiorari, and other 
original remedial writs, and to hear and determine the same; 
and shall have a superintending control over all inferior courts 
of record in said counties. Appeals shall lie from the decisions 
of the St. Louis Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court, and 
writs of error may issue from the Supreme Court to said court 
in the following cases only: In all cases where the amount in 
dispute, exclusive of costs, exceeds the sum of two thousand 
five hundred dollars; in cases involving the construction of the 
Constitution of the United States or of this State; in cases 
where the validity of a treaty or statute of, or authority exer¬ 
cised under the United States is drawn in question; in cases 

involving the construction of the revenue laws of this State, or 
the title to any office under this State; in cases involving title 
to real estate; in cases where a county or other political sub¬ 
division of the State, or any State officer is a party, and in all 
cases of felony. 

Sec. 13. The St. Louis Court of Appeals shall consist of 
three judges, to be elected by the qualified voters of the city 
of St. Louis, and the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln,, 
and Warren, who shall hold their offices for the period of 
twelve years. They shall be residents of the district composed 
of said counties, shall possess the same qualifications as judges 

of the Supreme Court, and each shall receive the same com¬ 

pensation as is now, or may be, provided by law for the 
judges of the circuit court of St. Louis county, and be paid 
from the same sources: Provided , That each of said counties 
shall pay its proportional part of the same according to its taxable 
property. 

Sec. 14. The judges of said court shall be conservators of the 
peace throughout said counties. Any two of said judges shall 
constitute a quorum. There shall be two terms of said court 
to be held each year, on the first Monday of March and October, 




JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT-COURT OF APPEALS. 


77 


and the first term of said court shall be held on the first Monday 
of January, 1876. 

Sec. 15. The opinions of said court shall be in writing, and 
shall be filed in the cases in which they shall be respectively 
made, and become parts of their record; and all laws relating 
to the practice in the Supreme Court shall apply to this court, 
so far as the same may be applicable. 

Sec. 16. At the first general election held in said city and 
counties after the adoption of this Constitution, three judges of 
said court shall be elected, who shall determine by lot the 
duration of their several terms of office, which shall be respect¬ 
ively four, eight, and twelve years, and certify the result to 
the Secretary of State; and every four years thereafter one 
judge of said court shall be elected to hold office for the term 
of twelve years. The term of office of such judges shall begin 
on the first Monday in January next ensuing their election. The 
judge having the oldest license to practice law in this State, 
shall be the presiding judge of said court. 

Sec. 17. Upon the adoption of this Constitution the Gov¬ 
ernor shall appoint three judges for said court, who shall hold 
their offices until the first Monday of January, eighteen hun¬ 
dred and seventy-seven, and until their successors shall be duly 
qualified. 

Sec. 18. The clerk of the Supreme Court at St. Louis shall 
be the clerk of the St. Louis Court of Appeals until the 
expiration of the term for which he was appointed clerk of 
the Supreme Court, and until his successor shall be duly 
qualified. 

Sec. 19. All cases which may be pending in the Supreme 
Court at St. Louis at the time of the adoption of this Con¬ 
stitution, which by its terms would come within the final appellate 
jurisdiction of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, shall be certified 
and transferred to the St. Louis Court of Appeals, to be heard 
and determined by said court. 

Sec. 20. All cases coming to said court by appeal, or writ of 
error, shall be triable at the expiration of fifteen days from the filing 
of the transcript in the office of the clerk of said court. 





78 


JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT-COURTS AND JUDGES. 


Sec. 21. Upon the adoption of this Constitution, and after the 
close of the next regular terms of the Supreme Court at St. Louis 
and St. Joseph, as now established by law, the office of the clerk of 
the Supreme Court at St. Louis and St. Joseph shall be vacated, 
and said clerks shall transmit to the clerk of the Supreme Court at 
Jefferson City all the books, records, documents, transcripts and 
papers belonging to their respective offices, except those required 
bv section nineteen of this Article, to be turned over to the St. 
Louis Court of Appeals; and said records, documents, transcripts 
and papers shall become part of the records, documents, tran¬ 
scripts and papers of said Supreme Court at Jefferson City, and said 
court shall hear and determine all the cases thus transferred as other 
cases. 

Sec. 22. The circuit court shall have jurisdiction over all crim¬ 
inal cases not otherwise provided for by law; exclusive original 
jurisdiction in all civil cases not otherwise provided for; and such 
concurrent jurisdiction with, and appellate jurisdiction from inferior 
tribunals and justices of the peace as is or may be provided by law. 
It shall hold its terms at such times and places in each county as 
may be by law directed ; but at least two terms shall be held every 
year in each county. 

Sec. 23. The circuit court shall exercise a superintending con¬ 
trol over criminal courts, probate courts, county courts, municipal 
corporation courts, justices of the peace, and all inferior tribunals in 
each county in their respective circuits. 

Sec. 24. The State, except as otherwise provided in this Con¬ 
stitution, shall be divided into convenient circuits of contiguous 
counties, in each of which circuits one circuit judge shall be elected ; 
and such circuits may be changed, enlarged, diminished or abolished, 
from time to time, as public convenience may require; and whenever 
a circuit shall be abolished, the office of the judge of such circuit 
shall cease. 

Sec. 25. The judges of the circuit courts shall be elected by 
the qualified voters of each circuit; shall hold their offices for the 
term of six years, and shall reside in and be conservators of the 
peace within their respective circuits. 

Sec. 26. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the 
circuit court who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, 




JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT-COURTS AND JUDGES. 


79 


been a citizen of the United States five years, a qualified voter of 
this State for three years, and who shall not be a resident of the 
circuit in which he may be elected or appointed. 

Sec. 27. The circuit court of St. Louis county shall be com- 

•/ 

posed of five judges, and such additional number as the General 
Assembly may, from time to time, provide. Each of said judges 
shall sit separately for the trial of causes and the transaction of 
business in special term. The judges of said circuit court may sit 
in general term, for the purpose of making rules of court, and for 
the transaction of such other business as may be provided by law, 
at such time as they may determine; but shall have no power to 
review any order, decision or proceeding of the court in special 
term. The St. Louis Court of Appeals shall have exclusive juris¬ 
diction of all appeals from, and writs of error to the circuit courts 
of St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties, and the circuit court 
of St. Louis county, in special term, and all courts of record having 
criminal jurisdiction in said counties. 

Sec. 28. In any circuit composed of a single county, the Gen¬ 
eral Assembly may, from time to time, provide for one or more 
additional judges, as the business shall require; each of whom shall 
separately try cases and perform all other duties imposed upon 
circuit judges. 

Sec. 29. If there be a vacancy in the office of judge of any 
circuit, or if the judge be sick, absent, or from any cause unable to 
hold any term, or part of term of court, in any county in his cir¬ 
cuit, such term, or part of term of court, may be held by a judge of 
any other circuit; and at the request of the judge of any circuit, 
any term of court, or part of term in his circuit, may be held by the 
judge of any other circuit, and in all such cases, or in any case 
where the judge cannot preside, the General Assembly shall make 
such additional provision for holding court as may be found neces¬ 
sary. 

Sec. 30. The election of judges of all courts of record shall be 
held as is or may be provided by law, and in case of a tie or con¬ 
tested election between the candidates, the same shall be determined 
as prescribed by law. 

Sec. 31. The General Assembly shall have no power to estab¬ 
lish criminal courts, except in counties having a population exceed¬ 
ing fifty thousand. 





80 


JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT—COURTS AND JUDGES. 


Sec. 32. In case the office of judge of any court of record 
become vacant by death, resignation, removal, failure to qualify, 

or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled in the manner provided by 
law. 

Sec. 33. The judges of the Supreme, Appellate and Circuit 
courts, and of all other courts of record receiving a salary, shall, at 
stated times, receive such compensation for their services as is or 
may be prescribed b} r law; but it shall not be increased or dimin¬ 
ished during the period for which they were elected. 

Sec. 34. The General Assemblv shall establish in every county 
a probate court, which shall be a court of record, and consist of one 
judge, who shall be elected. Said court shall have jurisdiction over 
all matters pertaining to probate business, to granting letters testa¬ 
mentary and of administration, the appointment of guardians and 
curators of minors and persons of unsound mind, settling the 
accounts of executors, administrators, curators and guardians, and 
the sale or leasing of lands by administrators, curators and guard¬ 
ians; and also jurisdiction over all matters relating to apprentices : 
Provided , That until the General Assembly shall provide by law for 
a uniform system of probate courts, the jurisdiction of probate 
courts heretofore established shall remain as now provided by law. 

Sec. 35. Probate courts shall be uniform in their organization, 
jurisdiction, duties and practice, except that a separate clerk may 
be provided for, or the judge may be required to act, ex officio, as 
his own clerk. 

Sec. 36. In each county there shall be a county court, which 
shall be a court of record, and shall have jurisdiction to transact all 
county and such other business as may be prescribed by law. The 
court shall consist of one or more judges, not exceeding three, of 
whom the probate judge may be one, as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 37. In each county there shall be appointed, or elected, as 
many justices of the peace as the public good may require, whose 
powers, duties and duration in office shall be regulated by law. 

Sec. 38. All writs and process shall run, and all prosecutions shall 
be conducted in the name of the “ State of Missouriall writs shall 
be attested by the clerk of the court from which they shall be 
issued; and all indictments shall conclude “ against the peace and 
dignity of the State.” 



JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT-COURTS AND JUDGES. 


81 


Sec. 39. The St. Louis Court of Appeals and Supreme Court 
shall appoint their own clerks. The clerks of all other courts of 
record shall be elective, for such terms and in such manner as may 
be directed by law : Provided , That the term of office of no exist¬ 
ing clerk of any court of record, not abolished by this Constitution, 
shall be affected by such law. 

Sec. 40. In case there be a tie, or a contested election between 
candidates for clerk of any court of record, the same shall be deter¬ 
mined in such manner as may be directed by law. 

Sec. 41. In case of the inability of any judge of a court of 
record to discharge the duties of his office with efficiency by reason 
of continued sickness, or physical or mental infirmity, it shall be in 
the power of the General Assembly, two-thirds of the members of 
each house concurring, with the approval of the Governor, to 
remove such judge from office; but each house shall state on its 
respective journal, the cause tor which it shall wish his removaj, and 
give him notice thereof, and he shall have the right to be heard in 
his defense, in such manner as the General Assembly shall by law 
direct. 

Sec. 42. All courts now existing in this State, not named or 
provided for in this Constitution, shall continue until the expiration 
of the terms of office of the several judges; and as such terms 
expire, the business of said courts shall vest in the court having 
jurisdiction thereof in the counties where said courts now exist, 
and all the records and papers shall be transferred to the proper 
courts. 

Sec. 43. The Supreme Court of the State shall designate what 
opinions delivered by the Court, or the judges thereof, may be 
printed at the expense of the State; and the General Assembly 
shall make no provision for payment by the State for the publica¬ 
tion of any case decided by said Court, not so designated. 

Sec. 44. All judicial decisions in this State shall be free for 
publication by any person. 





82 


IMPEACHMENTS—SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. 


ARTICLE VII. 

IMPEACHMENTS . 

Section 1. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of 
State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney-General, Superin¬ 
tendent of Public Schools and Judges of the Supreme, Circuit 
and Criminal Courts, and of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, 
shall be liable to impeachment for high crimes or misdemean¬ 
ors, and for misconduct, habits of drunkenness, or oppression in 
office. 

Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall have the sole 
power of impeachment. All impeachments shall be tried by the 
Senate, and, when sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be 
sworn to do justice according to law and evidence. When the 
Governor of the State is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court shall preside. No person shall be convicted without the con¬ 
currence of two-thirds of the Senators present. But judgment in 
such cases shall not extend any further than removal from office, 
and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit under 
this State. The party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, never¬ 
theless, be liable to prosecution, trial, judgment and punishment 
according to law. 


ARTICLE VIII. 

SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. 

Section 1 . The general election shall be held biennially on the 
Tuesday next following the first Monday in November. The first 
general election under this Constitution shall be held on that day, 
in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six; but the 
General Assembly may, by law, fix a different day—two-thirds of 
all the members of each house consenting thereto. 

Sec. 2. Every male citizen of the United States, and every 
male person of foreign birth, who may have declared his intention 



SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. 


83 


to become a citizen of the United States according to law, not 
less than one year nor more than five years before he offers to 
vote, who is over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the fol¬ 
lowing qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections by the 
people : 

First —He shall have resided in the State one year immediately 
preceding the election at which he offers to vote. 

Second —He shall have resided in the county, city or town where 
he shall offer to vote, at least sixty days immediately preceding the 
election. 

Sec. 3. All elections by the people shall be by ballot; every 
ballot voted shall be numbered in the order in which it shall be 
received, and the number recorded by the election officers on the 
list of voters, opposite the name of the voter who presents the 
ballot. The election officers shall be sworn or affirmed not to dis¬ 
close how any voter shall have voted, unless required to do so as 
witnesses in a judicial proceeding : Provided , That in all cases of 
contested elections the ballots cast may be counted, compared with 
the list of voters, and examined under such safeguards and regula¬ 
tions as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 4. Voters shall, in all cases except treason, felony or 
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend¬ 
ance at elections, and in going to and returning therefrom. 

Sec. 5. The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for the 
registration of all voters in cities and counties having a population 
of more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, and may provide 
for such registration in cities having a population exceeding twenty- 
five thousand inhabitants and not exceeding one hundred thousand, 
but not otherwise. 

Sec. 6 . All elections, by persons in a representative capacity, 
shall be viva voce. 

Sec. 7. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed 
to have gained a residence by reason of his presence, or lost it by 
reason of his absence, while employed in the service, either civil or 
military of this State, or of the United States ; nor while engaged 
in the navigation of the waters of the State, or of the United 
States, or of the high seas, nor while a student of any institution 




84 


COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 


of learning, nor while kept in a poor house or other asylum at pub¬ 
lic expense, nor while confined in public prison. 

Sec. 8. No person, while kept at any poor-house or other 
asylum, at public expense, nor while confined in any public prison, 
shall be entitled to vote at any election under the laws of this 
State. 

Sec. 9. The trial and determination of contested elections of all 
public officers, whether State, judicial, municipal or local, except 
Governor and Lieutenant Governor, shall be by the courts of law, 
or by one or more of the judges thereof. The General Assembly 
shall, by general law, designate the Court or judge by whom the 
several classes of election contests shall be tried, and regulate 
the manner of trial and all matters incident thereto; but no such 
law, assigning jurisdiction or regulating its exercise, shall apply to 
any contest arising out of any election held before said law shall 
take effect. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly may enact laws excluding from 
the right of voting all persons convicted of felony or other infamous 
crime, or misdemeanors connected with the exercise of the right 
of suffrage. 

Sec. 11. No officer, soldier or marine, in the regular army or 
navy of the United States, shall be entitled to vote at any election 
in this State. 

Sec. 12. No person shall be elected or appointed to any office 
in this State, civil or military, who is not a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not have resided in this State one year next 
preceding his election or appointment. 


ARTICLE IX. 

COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 

Section 1 . The several counties of this State, as they now 
exist, are hereby recognized as legal subdivisions of the State. 

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall have no power to remove 
the county seat of any county, but the removal of county seats shall 
be provided for by general law; and no county seat shall be 



COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 


85 


removed unless two-thirds of the qualified voters of the county, 
voting on the proposition at a general election, vote therefor; and 
no such proposition shall be submitted oftener than once in five 
years. All additions to a town, which is a county seat, shall be 
included, considered and regarded as part of the county seat. 

Sec. 3. The General Assembly shall have no power to establish 
any new county with a territory of less than four hundred and ten 
square miles ; nor to reduce any county, now established, to a less 
area or less population than required for a ratio of representation 
existing at the time; but when a new county is formed, having a 
population less than a ratio of representation, it shall be attached 
tor representative purposes to the county from which the greatest 
amount of territory is taken until such ratio shall be obtained. No 
county shall be divided or have any portion stricken therefrom, 
without submitting the question to a vote of the people of the 
county, nor unless a majority of all the qualified voters of the 
county or counties thus affected, voting on the question, shall vote 
therefor; nor shall any new county be established, any line of 
which shall run within ten miles of the then existing county 
seat of any county. In all cases of the establishment of any new 
county, the new county shall be held for and obliged to pay its 
ratable proportion of all the liabilities then existing of the county 
or counties from which said new county shall be formed. 

Sec. 4. No part of the territory of any county shall be 
stricken oflf and added to an adjoining county, without submitting 
the question to the qualified voters of the counties immediately 
interested, nor unless a majority of all the qualified voters of the 
counties thus affected, voting on the question, shall vote therefor. 
When any part of a county is stricken oflf and attached to 
another county, the part stricken off shall be holden for, and 
obliged to pay, its proportion of all the liabilities then existing 
of the county from which it is taken. 

Sec. 5. When any new county, formed from contiguous terri¬ 
tory taken from older counties, or when any county, to which 
territory shall be added taken from an adjoining county, shall fail 
to pay the proportion of indebtedness of such territory, to the 
county or counties from which it is taken, then it may be lawful for 
any county from which such territory has been taken, to levy and 



86 


COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 


collect, by taxation, the due proportion of indebtedness of such 
territory, in the same manner as if the territory had not been 
stricken off. 

Sec. 6. No county, township, city or other municipality, shall 
hereafter become a subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad 
or other corporation or association, or make appropriation or dona¬ 
tion, or loan its credit to, or in aid of any such corporation or asso¬ 
ciation, or to or in aid of any college or institution of learning, or 
other institution, whether created for or to be controlled by the 
State or others. All authority heretofore conferred for any of 
the purposes aforesaid by the General Assembly, or by the charter 
of any corporation, is hereby repealed: Provided , however , That 
nothing in this Constitution contained shall affect the right of any 
such municipality to make such subscription, where the same has 
been authorized under existing laws by a vote of the people of such 
municipality prior to its adoption, or to prevent the issue of renewal 
bonds or the use of such other means as are or may be prescribed 
by law, for the liquidation or payment of such subscription, or of 
any existing indebtedness. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, 
for the organization and classification of cities and towns. The 
number of such classes shall not exceed four; and the power of 
each class shall be defined by general laws, so that all such 
municipal corporations of the same class shall possess the same 
powers and be subject to the same restrictions. The General 
Assembly shall also make provisions, by general law, whereby any 
city, town or village, existing by virtue of any special or local law, 
may elect to become subject to, and be governed by, the general 
laws relating to such corporations. 

Sec. 8. The General Assembly may provide, by general law, 
for township organization, under which any county may organize 
whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting at 
any general election, shall so determine; and whenever any 
county shall adopt township organization, so much of this Consti¬ 
tution as provides for the management of county affairs, and the 
assessment and collection of the revenue by county officers, in 
conflict with such general law for township organization, may be 
dispensed with, and the business of said county, and the local 
concerns of the several townships therein, may be transacted in 



COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 


87 


such manner as may be prescribed by law: Provided , That the 
justices of the county court in such case shall not exceed three in 
number. 

bEC. 9. In any county which shall have adopted “ Township 
Organization,” the question of continuing the same may be submitted 
to a vote of the electors of such county at a general election, in the 
manner that shall be provided by law; and if a majority of all the 
votes cast upon that question shall be against township organization, 
it shall cease in said county; and all laws in force in relation to coun¬ 
ties not having township organization, shall immediately take effect 
and be in force in such county. 

Sec. 10. There shall be elected by the qualified voters in each 
county, at the time and places of electing representatives, a sheriff 
and coroner. They shall serve for two years, and until their suc¬ 
cessors be duly elected and qualified, unless sooner removed for 
malfeasance in office, and shall be eligible only four years in any 
period of six. Before entering on the duties of their office, 
they shall give security in the amount and in such manner as shall 
be prescribed by law. Whenever a county shall be hereafter 
established, the Governor shall appoint a sheriff and a coroner 
therein, who shall continue in office until the next succeeding gen¬ 
eral election, and until their successors shall be duly elected and 
qualified. 

Sec. 11. Whenever a vacancy shall happen in the office of 
sheriff or coroner, the same shall be filled by the county court. 
If such vacancy happen in the office of sheriff more than nine 
months prior to the time of holding a general election, such county 
court shall immediately order a special election to fill the same, 
and the person by it appointed shall hold office until the person 
chosen at such election shall be duly qualified; otherwise, the 
person appointed by such county court shall hold office until the 
person chosen at such general election shall be duly qualified. 
If any vacancy happen in the office of coroner, the same shall 
be filled for the remainder of the term by such county court. 
No person elected or appointed to fill a vacancy in either of said 
offices shall thereby be rendered ineligible for the next succeeding 
term. 






COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 


88 


Sec. 12. The General Assembly shall, by a law uniform in its 
operation, provide for and regulate the fees of all county officers, 
and for this purpose may classify the counties by population. 

Sec. 13. The fees of no executive or ministerial officer of any 
county or municipality, exclusive of the salaries actually paid to his 
necessary deputies, shall exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars 
for any one year. Every such officer shall make return, quarterly, 
to the county court of all fees by him received, and of the salaries 
by him actually paid to his deputies or assistants, stating the same 
in detail, and verifying the same by his affidavit; and for any 
statement or omission in such return, contrary to truth, such officer 
shall be liable to the penalties of willful and corrupt perjury. 

Sec. 14. Except as otherwise directed by this Constitution, 
the General Assembly shall provide for the election or appoint¬ 
ment of such other county, township and municipal officers, as 
public convenience may require ; and their terms of office and duties 
shall be prescribed by law; but no term of office shall exceed four 
years. 

Sec. 15. In all counties having a city therein containing over 
one hundred thousand inhabitants, the city and county government 
thereof may be consolidated in such manner as may be provided by 
law. 

Sec. 16. Any city having a population of more than one 
hundred thousand inhabitants, may frame a charter for its own 
government, consistent with and subject to the Constitution and 
laws of this State, by causing a board of thirteen freeholders, who 
shall have been for at least five years qualified voters thereof, to be 
elected by the qualified voters of such city at any general or special 
election; which board shall, within ninety days after such election, 
return to the chief magistrate of such city a draft of such charter, 
signed by the members of such board or a majority of them. 
Within thirty days thereafter such proposed charter shall be sub¬ 
mitted to the qualified voters of such city, at a general or special 
election, and if four-sevenths of such qualified voters voting thereat, 
shall ratify the same, it shall, at the end of thirty days thereafter, 
become the charter of such city, and supersede any existing charter 
and amendments thereof. A duplicate certificate shall be made 
setting forth the charter proposed and its ratification, which shall be 




COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS. 


89 


signed by the chief magistrate of such city and authenticated by 
its corporate seal. One of such certificates shall be deposited in 
the office of the Secretary of State, and the other, after being 
recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds for the county in 
which such city lies, shall be deposited among the archives of 
such city, and all courts shall take judicial notice thereof. 
Such charter so adopted may be amended by a proposal therefor, 
made by the law-making authorities of such city, published 
for at least thirty days in three newspapers of largest circu¬ 
lation in such city, one of which shall be a newspaper printed in 
the German language, and accepted by three-fifths of the qualified 
voters of such city, voting at a general or special election, and not 
otherwise; but such charter shall always be in harmony with and 
subject to the Constitution and laws of the State. 

Sec. 17. It shall be a feature of all such charters that they 
shall provide, among other things, for a mayor or chief magistrate, 
and two houses of legislation, one of which at least shall be elected 
by general ticket; and in submitting any such charter or amend¬ 
ment thereto to the qualified voters of such city, any alternative 
section or article may be presented for the choice of the voters, and 
may be voted on separately, and accepted or rejected separately, 
without prejudice to other articles or sections of the charter or any 
amendment thereto. 

Sec. 18. In cities or counties having more than two hundred 
thousand inhabitants, no person shall, at the same time, be a State 
officer and an officer of any county, city or other municipality; and 
no person shall, at the same time, fill two municipal offices, either 
in the same or different municipalities; but this section shall not 
apply to notaries public, justices of the peace or officers of the 
militia. 

Sec. 19. The corporate authorities of any county, city, or 
other municipal subdivision of this State, having more than two 
hundred thousand inhabitants, which has already exceeded the limit 
of indebtedness prescribed in section twelve of Article X of this 
Constitution, may, in anticipation of the customary annual revenue 
thereof, appropriate during any fiscal year toward the general gov¬ 
ernmental expenses thereof, a sum not exceeding seven-eighths of the 
entire revenue applicable to general governmental purposes (exclu- 




90 


COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS—ST. LOUIS. 


sive of the payment of the bonded debt of such county, city or 
municipality) that was actually raised by taxation alone during the 
preceding fiscal year; but until such excess of indebtedness cease 
no further bonded debt shall be incurred, except for the renewal of 
other bonds. 


ST. LOUIS. 

Sec. 20. The city of St. Louis may extend its limits so as to em¬ 
brace the parks now without its boundaries, and other convenient and 
contiguous territory, and frame a charter for the government of the 
city thus enlarged upon the following conditions, that is to say : The 
council of the city and county court of the county of St. Louis, shall, 
at the request of the mayorof the city of St. Louis, meet in joint ses¬ 
sion and order an election, to be held as provided for general elections, 
by the qualified voters of the city and county, of a board of thirteen 
freeholders of such city or county, whose duty shall be to propose a 
scheme for the enlargement and definition of the boundaries of the 
city, the reorganization of the government of the county, the adjust¬ 
ment of the relations between the city thus enlarged, and the resi¬ 
due of St. Louis county and the government of the city thus 
enlarged, by a charter in harmony with and subject to the Consti¬ 
tution and laws of Missouri, which shall, among other things, 
provide for a chief executive and two houses of legislation, one of 
which shall be elected bv general ticket, which scheme and charter 
shall be signed in duplicate by said board or a majority of them, 
and one of them returned to the mayor of the city and the other to 
the presiding justice of the county court within ninety days after 
the election of such board. Within thirty days thereafter the city 
council and county court shall submit such scheme to the qualified 
voters of the whole county and such charter to the qualified voters 
of the city so enlarged, at an election to be held not less than twenty 
nor more than thirty days after the order therefor; and if a majority 
of such qualified voters, voting at such election, shall ratify such 
scheme and charter, then such scheme shall become the organic law 
of the county and city, and such charter the organic law of the city, 
and at the end of sixty days thereafter shall take the place of and 
supersede the charter of St. Louis, and all amendments thereof, and 
all special laws relating to St. Louis county inconsistent with such 
scheme. 




COUNTIES, CITIES AND TOWNS-ST. LOUIS. 


91 


Sec. 21. A copy of such scheme and charter, with a certificate 
thereto appended, signed by the mayor and authenticated by the 
seal of the city, and also signed by the presiding justice of the 
county court and authenticated by the seal of the county, setting 
forth the submission of such scheme and charter to the qualified 
voters of such county and city and its ratification, by them, shall be 
made in duplicate, one of which shall be deposited in the office of 
the secretary ol State, and the other, after being recorded in the 
office ol the recorder of deeds of St. Louis county, shall be depos¬ 
ited among the archives of the city, and thereafter all courts shall 
take judicial notice thereof. 

Sec. 22, The charter so ratified may be amended at intervals of 
not less than two years, by proposals therefor, submitted by the law 
making authorities of the city to the qualified voters thereof at a 
general or special election, held at least sixty days after the publi¬ 
cation of such proposals, and accepted by at least three-fifths of the 
qualified voters voting thereat. 

Sec. 23. Such charter and amendments shall always be in har¬ 
mony with, and subject to the Constitution and laws of Missouri, 
except only, that provision may be made for the graduation of the 
rate of taxation for city purposes in the portions of the city which 
are added thereto by the proposed enlargement of its boundaries. 
In the adjustment of the relations between city and county, the city 
shall take upon itself the entire park tax; and in consideration of 
the city becoming the proprietor of all the county buildings and 
property within its enlarged limits, it shall assume the whole of the 
existing county debt, and thereafter the city and county of St. Louis 
shall be independent of each other. The city shall be exempted 
from all county taxation. The judges of the county court shall be 
elected by the qualified voters outside of the city. The city, as 
enlarged, shall be entitled to the same representation in the General 
Assembly, collect the State revenue and perform all other functions 
in relation to the State, in the same manner, as if it were a 
county as in this Constitution defined ; and the residue of the county 
shall remain a legal county of the State of Missouri, under the 
name of the county of St. Louis. Until the next apportionment 
for senators and representatives in the General Assembly, the city 
shall have six senators and fifteen representatives, and the county 
one senator and two representatives, the same being the number of 





92 


REVENUE AND TAXATION. 


senators and representatives to which the county of St. Louis, as 
now organized, is entitled under sections eight and eleven of article 
IV of this Constitution. 

Sec. 24. The county and city of St. Louis, as now existing, 
shall continue to constitute the Eighth Judicial Circuit, and the 
jurisdiction of all courts of record, except the county court, shall 
continue until otherwise provided by law. 

Sec. 25. Notwithstanding the provisions of this article, the 
General Assembly shall have the same power over the city and 
county of St. Louis that it has over other cities and counties of this 
State. 


ARTICLE X. 

REVENUE AND TAXATION. 

Section 1. The taxing power may be exercised by the General 
Assembly for State purposes, and by counties and other municipal 
corporations, under authority granted to them by the General 
Assembly, for county and other corporate purposes. 

Sec. 2. The power to tax corporations and corporate property 
shall not be surrendered or suspended by act of the General Assem¬ 
bly. 

Sec. 3. Taxes may be levied and collected for public purposes 
only. They shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within 
the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and all taxes 
shall be levied and collected by general laws. 

Sec. 4. All property subject to taxation shall be taxed in pro¬ 
portion to its value. 

Sec. 5. All railroad corporations in this State, or doing business 
therein, shall be subject to taxation for State, county, school, munic¬ 
ipal and other purposes, on the real and personal property owned or 
used by them, and on their gross earnings, their net earnings, their 
franchises and their capital stock. 

Sec. 6 . The property, real and personal, of the State, counties 
and other municipal corporations, and cemeteries, shall be exempt 





REVENUE AND TAXATION. 


93 


from taxation. Lots in incorporated cities or towns, or within one 
mile ot the limits of any such city or town, to the extent of one 
acre, and lots one mile or more distant from such cities or towns, to 
the extent of five acres, with the buildings thereon, may be exempted 
from taxation, when the same are used exclusively for religious wor¬ 
ship, for schools, or for purposes purely charitable ; also, such prop¬ 
erty, real or personal, as may be used exclusively for agricultural or 
horticultural societies : Provided , That such exemptions shall be 
only by general law. 

Sec. 7. All laws exempting property from taxation, other than 
the property above enumerated, shall be void. 

Sec. 8. The State tax on property, exclusive of the tax neces¬ 
sary to pay the bonded debt of the State, shall not exceed twenty 
cents on the hundred dollars’ valuation; and whenever the taxable 
property of the State shall amount to nine hundred million dollars, 
the rate shall not exceed fifteen cents. 

Sec. 9. No county, city, town or other municipal corporation, 
nor the inhabitants thereof, nor the property therein, shall be 
released or discharged from their or its proportionate share of taxes 
to be levied for State purposes, nor shall commutation for such 
taxes be authorized in any form whatsoever. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall not impose taxes upon 
counties, cities, towns or other municipal corporations, or upon the 
inhabitants or property thereof, for county, city, town or other mu¬ 
nicipal purposes; but may, by general laws, vest in the corporate 
authorities thereof, the power to assess and collect taxes for such 
purposes. 

Sec. 11. Taxes for county, city, town and school purposes, may 
be levied on all subjects and objects of taxation; but the valuation 
of property therefor shall not exceed the valuation of the same 
property in such town, city or school district for State and county 
purposes. For county purposes the annual rate on property, in 
counties having six million dollars or less, shall not, in the aggre¬ 
gate, exceed fifty cents on the hundred dollars valuation; in 
counties having six million dollars and under ten million dollars, 
said rate shall not exceed forty cents on the hundred dollars valu¬ 
ation : in counties having ten million dollars and under thirty 
million dollars, said rate shall not exceed fifty cents on the 



94 


REVENUE AND TAXATION. 


hundred dollars valuation; and in counties having thirty million 
dollars or more, said rate shall not exceed thirty-five cents on the 
hundred dollars valuation. For city and town purposes the annual 
rate on property in cities and towns having thirty thousand inhabi¬ 
tants or more, shall not, in the aggregate, exceed one hundred cents 
on the hundred dollars valuation ; in cities and towns having less 
than thirty thousand and over ten thousand inhabitants, said rate 
shall not exceed sixty cents on the hundred dollars valuation; in 
cities and towns having less than ten thousand and more than one 
thousand inhabitants, said rate shall not exceed fifty cents on the 
hundred dollars valuation ; and in towns having one thousand inhab¬ 
itants or less, said rate shall not exceed twenty-five cents on the 
hundred dollars valuation. For school purposes in districts, the 
annual rate on property shall not exceed forty cents on the hundred 
dollars valuation : Provided , The aforesaid annual rates for school 
purposes may be increased in districts formed of cities and towns, 
to an amount not to exceed one dollar on the hundred dollars valu¬ 
ation ; and in other districts to an amount not to exceed sixty-five 
cents on the hundred dollars valuation, on the condition that a 
majority of the voters who are taxpayers, voting at an election 
held to decide the question, vote for said increase. For the pur¬ 
pose of erecting public buildings in counties, cities or school dis¬ 
tricts, the rates of taxation herein limited may be increased when 
the rate of such increase and the purpose for which it is intended 
shall have been submitted to a vote of the people, and two-thirds 
of the qualified voters of such county, city, or school district, vot¬ 
ing at such election shall vote therefor. The rate herein allowed to 
each county shall be ascertained by the amount of taxable property 
therein, according to the last assessment for State and county pur¬ 
poses, and the rate allowed to each city or town by the number of 
inhabitants, according to the last census taken under the authority 
of the State, or of the United States ; said restrictions, as to rates, 
shall apply to taxes of every kind and description, whether 
general or special, except taxes to pay valid indebtedness now 
existing or bonds which may be issued in renewal of such indebted¬ 
ness. 

Sec. 12. No county, city, town, township, school district or 
other political corporation or subdivision of the State, shall be 
allowed to become indebted in any manner or for any purpose to an 




REVENUE AND TAXATION. 


95 


amount exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for 
such year, without the assent of two-thirds of the voters thereof 
voting at an election to be held for that purpose; nor in cases 
requiring such assent shall any indebtedness be allowed to be incur¬ 
red to an amount including existing indebtedness, in the aggregate 
exceeding five per centum on the value of the taxable property 
therein, to be ascertained by the assessment next before the last 
assessment for State and county purposes, previous to the incurring 
of such indebtedness: Provided , That with such assent any county 
may be allowed to become indebted to a larger amount for the 

erection of a court house or jail: And provided further. That 

any county, city, town, township, school district, or other political 
corporation, or subdivision of the State, incurring any indebtedness, 
requiring the assent of the voters as aforesaid, shall, before or at 
the time of doing so, provide for the collection of an annual tax 
sufficient to pay the interest on such indebtedness as it falls due, 
and also to constitute a sinking fund for payment of the principal 

thereof, within twenty years from the time of contracting the 

same. 

Sec. 13. Private property shall not be taken or sold for the 
payment of the corporate debt of a municipal corporation. 

Sec. 14 . The tax authorized by the sixth section of the Ordi¬ 
nance adopted June sixth, one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
five, is hereby abolished, and hereafter there shall be levied and 
collected an annual tax sufficient to pay the accruing interest upon 
the bonded debt of the State, and to reduce the principal thereof 
each year by a sum not less than two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars; the proceeds of which tax shall be paid into the State 
Treasury, and appropriated and paid out for the purposes expressed 
in the first and second subdivisions of section forty-three of Article 
IY. of this Constitution. The funds and resources now in the 
State Interest and State Sinking Funds shall be appropriated to the 
same purposes ; and whenever said bonded debt is extinguished, or 
a sum sufficient therefor has been raised, the tax provided for in 
this section shall cease to be assessed. 

Sec. 15. All moneys now, or at any time hereafter, in the State 
Treasury, belonging to the State, shall, immediately on receipt 
thereof, be deposited by the treasurer to the credit of the State for 
the benefit of the funds to which they respectively belong in such 




96 


REVENUE AND TAXATION. 


bank or banks, as he may, from time to time, with the approval of 
the Governor and Attorney General select, the said bank or banks 
giving security, satisfactory to the Governor and Attorney General, 
for the safe keeping and payment of such deposit, when demanded 
by the State Treasurer on his check—such bank to pay a bonus for 
the use of such deposits not less than the bonus paid by other 
banks for similar deposits; and the same, together with such 
interest and profits as may accrue thereon, shall be disbursed 
by said Treasurer for the purposes of the State, according 

to law, upon warrants drawn by the State Auditor, and not 
otherwise. 

Sec. 16. The Treasurer shall keep a separate account of the 
funds, and the number and amount of warrants received, and 
from whom; and shall publish, in such manner as the Governor 
may designate, quarterly statements, showing the amount of State 
moneys and where the same are kept or deposited. 

Sec. 17. The making of profit out of State, county, city, town 
or school district money, or using the same for any purpose not 
authorized by law, by any public officer, shall be deemed a felouy, 
and shall be punished as provided by law. 

9 

Sec. 18. There shall be a State Board of Equalization, con¬ 
sisting of the Governor, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Secretary 
of State and Attorney General. The duty of said board shall be 
to adjust and equalize the valuation of real and personal property 
among the several counties in the State, and it shall perform such 
other duties as are or may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 19. No moneys shall ever be paid out of the treasury 
of this State, or any of the funds under its management, except 
in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment 
be made, or a warrant shall have issued therefor, within two 
years after the passage of such appropriation act; and every such 
law, making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an 
appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and 
the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient 
to refer to any other law to fix such sum or object. A regular 
statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public 
money shall be published from time to time. 



EDUCATION. 


97 


Sec. 20. The moneys arising from any loan, debt or liability, 
contracted by the State, or any county, city, town, or other 
municipal corporation, shall be applied to the purposes for which* 
they were obtained, or to the repayment of such debt or liability, 
and not otherwise. 

Sec 21. No corporation, company or association, other than 
those formed for benevolent, religious, scientific or educational 
purposes, shall be created or organized under the laws of this 
State, unless the persons named as corporators shall, at or before 
the filing of the articles of association or incorporation, pay into 
the State treasury fifty dollars, for the first fifty thousand dollars 
or less of capital stock, and a further sum of five dollars for every 
additional ten thousand dollars of its capital stock. And no such 
corporation, company or association shall increase its capital stock 
without first paying into the treasury five dollars for every ten 
thousand dollars of increase : Provided , That nothing contained in 
this section shall be construed to prohibit the General Assembly 
from levying a further tax on the franchises of such corporation. 

ARTICLE XI. 

EDUCATION. 

Section 1. A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence 
being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of 
the people, the General Assembly shall establish and maintain 
tree public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in 
this State between the ages of six and twenty years. 

Sec. 2. The income of all the funds provided by the State for 
the support of free public schools, shall be paid annually to the 
several county treasurers, to be disbursed according to law; but no 
school district, in which a free public school has not been main¬ 
tained at least three months during the year for which the distribu¬ 
tion is made, shall be entitled to receive any portion of such funds. 

Sec. 3. Separate free public schools shall be established for the 
education of children of African descent. 

Sec. 4. The supervision of instruction in the public schools 
shall be vested in a “Board of Education,” whose powers and 




98 


EDUCATION. 


duties shall be prescribed by law. The Superintendent of Public 
Schools shall be President of the Board. The Governor, Secretary 
‘ of State and Attorney General shall be ex officio members, and 
with the Superintendent, compose said Board of Education. 

Sec. 5. The General Assembly shall, whenever the Public 
School Fund will permit, and the actual necessity of the same may 
require, aid and maintain the State University now established 
with its present departments. The government of the State 
University shall be vested in a Board of Curators, to consist of nine 
members, to be appointed by the Governor, by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate. 

Sec. 6. The proceeds of all lands that have been, or hereafter 
may be granted by the United States to this State, and not other¬ 
wise appropriated by this State or the United States; also, all 
moneys, stocks, bonds, lands and other property now belonging to 
any State fund for purposes of education; also, the net proceeds 
of all sales of lands and other property and effects that may 
accrue to the State by escheat, from unclaimed dividends and 
distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons; also, any 
proceeds of the sales of the public lands which may have been or 
hereafter may be paid over to this State, (if Congress will consent 
to such appropriation) ; also, ail other grants, gifts or devises 
that have been, or hereafter may be made to this State, and not 
otherwise appropriated by the State or the terms of the grant, 
gift or devise, shall be paid into the State Treasury, and securely 
invested and sacredly preserved as a Public School Fund; the 
annual income of which fund, together with so much of the 
ordinary revenue of the State as may be by law set apart for that 
purpose, shall be faithfully appropriated for establishing and main¬ 
taining the free public schools and the State University in this 
Article provided for, and for no other uses and purposes what¬ 
soever. 

Sec. 7. In case the Public School Fund now provided and set 
apart by law, for the support of free public schools, shall be insuffi¬ 
cient to sustain a free school at least four months in every vear 
in each school district in this State, the General Assembly may 
provide for such deficiency in accordance with section eleven of 
the Article on Revenue und Taxation; but in no case shall there 
be. set apart less than twenty-five per cent, of the State revenue, 





EDUCATION. 


99 


exclusive of the interest and Sinking Fund, to be applied annually 
to the support of the public schools. 

Sec. 8. All moneys, stocks, bonds, lands and other property 
belonging to a county school fund; also, the net proceeds from the 
sale of estrays; also, the clear proceeds from all penalties and 
forfeitures, and of all fines collected in the several counties for 
any breach of the penal or military laws of the State, and all 
moneys which shall be paid by persons as an equivalent for exemp¬ 
tion from military duty, shall belong to and be securely invested, 
and sacredly preserved in the several counties, as a county public 
school fund; the income of which fund shall be faithfully appro¬ 
priated for establishing and maintaining free public schools in the 
several counties of this State. 

Sec. 9. No part of the Public School Fund of the State shall 
ever be invested in the stock or bonds, or other obligations of 
any other State, or of any county, city, town or corporation ; and 
the proceeds of the sales of any lands or other property which 
now belong, or may hereafter belong to said school fund, shall be 
invested in the bonds of the State of Missouri, or of the United 
States. 

Sec. 10. All county school funds shall be loaned only upon 
unincumbered real estate security, of double the value of the loan, 
with personal security in addition thereto. 

Sec. 11. Neither the General Assembly, nor any county, city, 
town, township, school district or other municipal corporation, shall 
ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, 
anything in aid of any religious creed, church or sectarian purpose; 
or to help to support or sustain any private or public school, acad¬ 
emy, seminary, college, university or other institution of learning, 
controlled by any religious creed, church or sectarian denomination 
whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or 
real estate ever be made by the State, or any county, city, town or 
other municipal corporation, for any religious creed, church or sec¬ 
tarian purpose whatever. 



100 


CORPORATIONS. 


ARTICLE XII. 

CORPORATIONS. 

Section 1 . All existing charters, or grants of special or exclu¬ 
sive privileges, under which a bona fide organization shall not have 
taken place, and business been commenced in good faith, at the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall thereafter have no validity. 

Sec. 2. No corporation, after the adoption of this Constitution, 
shall be created by special laws; nor shall any existing charter be 
extended, changed or amended by special laws, except those for 
charitable, penal or reformatory purposes, which are under the 
patronage and control of the State. 

Sec. 3. The General Assembly shall not remit the forfeiture of 
the charter of any corporation now existing, or alter or amend such 
forfeited charter, or pass any other general or special laws for the 
benefit of such corporations. 

Sec. 4. The exercise of the power and right of eminent domain, 
shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the taking, by 
the General Assembly, of the property and franchises of incorpo¬ 
rated companies already organized, or that may be hereafter organ¬ 
ized, and subjecting them to the public use, the same as that of indi¬ 
viduals. The right of trial by jury shall be held inviolate in all 
trials of claims for compensation, when in the exercise of said right 
of eminent domain, any incorporated company shall be interested 
either for or against the exercise of said right. 

Sec. 5. The exercise of the police power of the State shall 
never be abridged, or so construed as to permit corporations to con¬ 
duct their business in such manner as to infringe the equal rights of 
individuals, or the general well-being of the State. 

Sec. 6 . In all elections for directors or managers of any incor¬ 
porated company, each shareholder shall have the right to cast as 
many votes in the aggregate as shall equal the number of shares so 
held by him or her in said company, multiplied by the number of 
directors or managers to be elected at such election ; and each share¬ 
holder may cast the whole number of votes, either in person or by 





CORPORATIONS—RAILROADS. 


101 


proxy, for one candidate, or distribute such votes among two or 
more candidates; and such directors or managers shall not be 
elected in any other manner. 

Sec. 7. No corporation shall engage in business, other than that 
expressly authorized in its charter or the law under which it may 
have been or hereafter may be organized, nor shall it hold any real 
estate for any period longer than six years, except such as may be 
necessary and proper for carrying on its legitimate business. 

Sec. 8. No corporation shall issue stock or bonds, except for 
money paid, labor done or property actually received, and all ficti¬ 
tious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock 
and bonded indebtedness of corporations shall not be increased, 
except in pursuance of general law, nor without the consent of the 
persons holding the larger amount in value of the stock first obtained 
at a meeting called for the purpose, first giving sixty days’ public 
notice, as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 9. Dues from private corporations shall be secured by such 
means as may be prescribed by law, but in no case shall any stock¬ 
holder be individually liable in any amount over or above the amount 
of stock owned by him or her. 

Sec. 10. No corporation shall issue preferred stock without the 
consent of all the stockholders. 

Sec. 11. The term “ corporation,” as used in this Article, shall 
be construed to include all joint stock companies or associations 
having any powers or privileges not possessed by individuals or part¬ 
nerships. 


RAILROADS. 

4 

Sec. 12. It shall not be lawful in this State for any railway com¬ 
pany to charge for freight or passengers a greater amount, for the 
transportation of the same, for a less distance than the amount 
charged for any greater distance ; and suitable laws shall be passed 
by the General Assembly to enforce this provision; but excursion 
and commutation tickets may be issued at special rates. 

Sec. 13. Any railroad corporation or association, organized for 
the purpose, shall have the right to construct and operate a railroad 
between any points within this State, and to connect at the State 



102 


RAILROADS. 


line with railroads of other States. Every railroad company shall 
have the right, with its road, to intersect, connect with or cross any 
other railroad, and shall receive and transport each the other’s pas¬ 
sengers, tonnage and cars, loaded or empty, without delay or dis¬ 
crimination . 

Sec. 14. Railways heretofore constructed, or that may here¬ 
after be constructed in this State, are hereby declared public high¬ 
ways, and railroad companies common carriers. The General 
Assembly shall pass laws to correct abuses and prevent unjust dis¬ 
crimination and extortion in the rates of freight and passenger tariffs 
on the different railroads in this State ; and shall, from time to time, 
pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the 
transportation of passengers and freight on said railroads, and 
enforce all such laws by adequate penalties. 

Sec. 15. Every railroad or other corporation, organized or doing 
business in this State under the laws or authority thereof, shall have 
and maintain a public office or place in this State for the transac¬ 
tion of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and 
where shall be kept, for public inspection, books in which shall 
be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, the names of 
the owners of the stock, the amounts owned by them respectively, 
the amount of stock paid, and by whom, the transfer of said stock, 
with the date of transfer, the amount of its assets and liabilities, 
and the names and places of residence of its officers. The directors 
of every railroad company shall hold one meeting annually in this 
State, public notice of which shall be given thirty days previously, 
and shall report annually, under oath, to the State Auditor, or some 
officer designated by law, all of their acts and doings, which report 
shall include such matters relating to railroads as may be prescribed 
by law. The General Assembly shall pass laws enforcing, by suit¬ 
able penalties, the provisions of this section. 

Sec. 16. The rolling stock and ail other movable property 
belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this State, shall 
be considered personal property, and shall be liable to execution and 
sale in the same manner as the personal property of individuals ; 
and the General Assembly shall pass no law exempting any such 
property from execution and sale. 



RAILROADS. 


103 


Sec. 17. No railroad or other corporation, or the lessees, 
purchasers or managers of any railroad corporation, shall consoli¬ 
date the stock, property or franchises of such corporation, with, 
or lease or purchase the works or franchise of, or in any way 
control any railroad corporation owning or having under its control 
a parallel or competing line; nor shall any officer of such railroad 
corporation act as an officer of any other railroad corporation 
owning or having the control of a parallel or competing line. The 
question whether railroads are parallel or competing lines shall, 
when demanded, be decided by a jury, as in other civil issues. 

Sec. 18. If any railroad company organized under the laws of 
this State shall consolidate, by sale or otherwise, with any railroad 
company organized under the laws of any other State, or of the 
United States, the same shall not thereby become a foreign corpo¬ 
ration ; but the courts of this State shall retain jurisdiction in all 
matters which may arise, as if said consolidation had not taken place. 
In no case shall any consolidation take place, except upon public 
notice of at least sixty days to all stockholders, in such manner as 
may be provided by law. 

Sec. 19. The General Assembly shall pass no law for the 
benefit of a railroad or other corporations, or any individual or 
association of individuals, retrospective in its operation, or which 
imposes on the people of any county or municipal subdivision of 
the State, a new liability in respect to transactions or considerations 
already past. 

Sec. 20. No law shall be passed by the General Assembly 
granting the right to construct and operate a street railroad within 
any city, town, village, or on any public highway, without first 
acquiring the consent of the local authorities having control of the 
street or highway proposed to be occupied by such street railroad; 
and the franchises so granted shall not be transferred without similar 
assent first obtained. 

Sec. 21. No railroad corporation in existence at the time of the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall have the benefit of any future 
legislation, except on condition of complete acceptance of all the 
provisions of this Constitution applicable to railroads. 

Sec. 22. No president, director, officer, agent or employee of 
any railroad company, shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in 




104 


RAILROADS-BANKS. 


furnishing material or supplies to such company, or in the business 
of transportation as a common carrier of freight or passengers over 
the works owned, leased, controlled or worked by such company. 

Sec. 23. No discrimination in charges or facilities in transpor¬ 
tation shall be made between transportation companies and individ¬ 
uals, or in favor of either, by abatement, drawback or otherwise ; 
and no railroad company, or any lessee, manager or employee 
thereof, shall make any preference in furnishing cars or motive 
power. 

Sec. 24. No railroad or other transportation company shall 
grant free passes or tickets, or passes or tickets at a discount, to 
members of the General Assembly, or members of the Board of 
Equalization, or any State, or county, or municipal officers; and 
the acceptance of any such pass or ticket, by a member of the Gen¬ 
eral Assembly, or any such officer, shall be a foreiture of his office. 

BANKS. 

Sec. 25. No State bank shall hereafter be created, nor shall the 
State own or be liable for any stock in any corporation, or joint 
stock company, or association for banking purposes, now created or 
hereafter to be created. 

Sec. 26. No act of the General Assembly authorizing or creat¬ 
ing corporations or associations with banking powers, (except banks 
of deposit or discount,) nor amendments thereto, shall go into effect, 
or in any manner be enforced, unless the same shall be submitted 
to a vote of the qualified voters of the State, at the general election 
next succeeding the passage of the same, and be approved by a 
majority of the votes cast at such election. 

Sec. 27. It shall be a crime, the nature and punishment of 
which shall be prescribed by law, for any president, director, man¬ 
ager, cashier or other officer of any banking institution, to assent to 
the reception of deposits, or the creation of debts by such banking 
institution, after he shall have had knowledge of the fact that it is 
insolvent, or in failing circumstances ; and any such officer, agent 
or manager, shall be individually responsible for such deposits so 
received, and all such debts so created with his assent. 



MILITIA. 


105 


ARTICLE XIII. 

MILITIA. 

Section 1 . All able-bodied male inhabitants of this State 

• 

between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, who are citizens 
of the United States, or have declared their intention to become 
such citizens, shall be liable to military duty in the militia of this 
State : Provided, That no person who is religiously scrupulous of 
bearing arms, can be compelled to do so, but may be compelled to 
pay an equivalent for military service, in such manner as shall be 
prescribed by law. 

Sec. 2. The General Assembly, in providing for the organiza¬ 
tion, equipment and discipline of the militia, shall conform, as nearly 
as practicable, to the regulations for the government of the armies 
of the United States. 

Sec. 3. Each company and regiment shall elect its own com¬ 
pany and regimental officers ; but if any company or regiment shall 
neglect to elect such officers within the time prescribed by law, 
or by the order of the Governor, they may be appointed by the 
Governor. 

Sec. 4. Volunteer companies of infantry, cavalry and artillery, 
may be formed in such manner and under such restrictions as may 
be provided by law. 

Sec. 5. The volunteer and militia forces shall in all cases, 
except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from 
arrest during their attendance at musters, parades and elections, and 
in going to and returning from the same. 

o cj o 

Sec. 6 . The Governor shall appoint the Adjutant-General, 
Quartermaster-General and his other staff officers. He shall also, 
with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint all Major-Gen¬ 
erals and Brigadier-Generals. 

Sec. 7 . The General Assembly shall provide for the safe keep¬ 
ing of the public arms, military records, banners and relics of the 
State. 




106 


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 


ARTICLE XIV. 

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

Section 1 . The General Assembly of this State shall never 
interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States, 
nor with any regulation which Congress may find necessary for 
securing the title in such soil to bona fide purchasers. No tax shall 
be imposed on lands the property of the United States ; nor shall 
lands belonging to persons residing out of the limits of this State 
ever be taxed at a higher rate than the lands belonging to persons 
residiug within the State. 

Sec. 2. No person shall be prosecuted in any. civil action or 
criminal proceeding for or on account of any act by him done, per¬ 
formed or executed between the first day of January, one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-one, and the twentieth day of August, one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, by virtue of military author¬ 
ity vested in him, or in pursuance of orders from any person vested 
with such authority by the government of the United States, or of 
this State, or of the late Confederate States, or any of them to do 
such act. And if any action or proceedings shall have been, or 
shall hereafter be instituted against any person for the doing of any 
such act, the defendant may plead this section in bar thereof. 

Sec. 3. No person who shall hereafter fight a duel, or assist in the 
same as a second, or send, accept, or knowingly carry a challenge 
therefor, or agree to go out of this State to fight a duel, shall hold 
any office in this State. 

Sec. 4. No person holding an office of profit under the United 
States, shall, during his continuance in such office, hold any office 
of profit under this State. 

Sec. 5. In the absence of any contrary provision, all officers 
now or hereafter elected or appointed, subject to the right of resig¬ 
nation, shall hold office during their official terms, and until their 
successors shall be duly elected or appointed and qualified. 

Sec. 6. All officers, both civil and military, under the authority 
of this State, shall, before entering on the duties of their respective 




MODE OF AMENDING CONSTITUTION. 


107 


offices, take and subscribe an oath, or affirmation, to support the 
Constitution of the United States and of this State, and to demean 
themselves faithfully in office. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall, in addition toother penal¬ 
ties, provide for the removal from office of county, city, town and 
township officers, ou conviction of willful, corrupt or fraudulent 
violation or neglect of official duty. 

Sec. 8. The compensation or fees of no State, county or munici¬ 
pal officer shall be increasing during his term of office; nor shall the 
term of any office be extended for a longer period than that for 
which such officer was elected or appointed. 

Sec. 9. The appointment of all officers not otherwise directed 
by this Constitution, shall be made in such manner as may be pre¬ 
scribed by law. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall have no power to author¬ 
ize lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall pass laws 
to prohibit the sale of lottery or gift enterprise tickets, or tickets in 
any scheme in the nature of a lottery, in this State; and all acts or 
parts of acts heretofore passed by the Legislature of this State, 
authorizing a lottery or lotteries, and all acts amendatory thereof, or 
supplemental thereto, are hereby avoided. 

Sec. 11. It shall be the duty of the grand jury in each county, 
at least once a year, to investigate the official acts of all officers 
having charge of public funds, and report the result of their inves¬ 
tigations in writing to the court. 

Sec. 12. Senators and representatives shall, in all cases, except 
treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest 
during the session of the General Assembly, and for fifteen days 
next before the commencement and after the termination of each 
session ; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not 
be questioned in any other place. 

ARTICLE XV. 

MODE OF AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION. 

Section 1. This Constitution may be amended and revised only 
in pursuance of the provisions of this Article. 



108 


MODE OF AMENDING CONSTITUTION. 


Sec. 2. The General Assembly may, at any time, propose such 
amendments to this Constitution as a majority of the members 
elected to each house shall deem expedient; and the vote thereon 
shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered in full on the journals. 
The proposed amendments shall be published with the laws of that 
session, and also shall be published weekly in some newspaper, if 
such there be, within each county in the State, for four consecutive 
weeks next preceding the general election then next ensuing. The 
proposed amendments shall be submitted to a vote of the people, 
each amendment separately, at the next general election thereafter, 
in such manner as the General Assembly may provide. If a 
majority of the qualified voters of the State, voting for and against 
any one of said amendments, shall vote for such amendment, the 
same shall be deemed and taken to have been ratified by the people, 
and shall be valid and binding, to all intents and purposes, as a part 
of this Constitution. 

Sec. 3. The General Assembly may at any time authorize, by 
law. a vote of the people to be taken upon the question whether a 
convention shall be held for the purpose of revising and amending 
the Constitution of this State; and if at such election a majority of 
the votes on the question be in favor of a convention, the Governor 
shall issue writs to the sheriffs of the different counties, ordering the 
election of delegates to such a convention, on a day not less than 
three and within six months after that on which the said question 
shall have been voted on. At such election each Senatorial District 
shall elect two delegates for each Senator to which it may then be 
entitled in the General Assembly, and every such delegate shall 
have the qualifications of a State Senator. The election shall be 
conducted in conformity with the laws regulating the election of 
Senators. The delegates so elected shall meet at such time and 
place-as may be provided by law, and organize themselves into a 
convention, and proceed to revise and amend the Constitution; and 
the Constitution when so revised and amended, shall, on a day to 
be therein fixed, not less than sixty days or more than six months 
after that on which it shall have been adopted by the convention, be 
submitted to a vote of the people for and against it, at an election 
to be held for that purpose; and if a majority of all the votes given 
be in favor of such Constitution, it shall, at the end of thirty days 
after such election, become the Constitution of this State. The 



SCHEDULE. 


109 


result of such election shall be made known by proclamation by the 

Governor. The General Assembly shall have no power, otherwise 

than in this section specified, to authorize a convention for revising 

© 

and amending the Constitution. 

SCHEDULE. 

That no inconvenience may arise from the alteration and amend¬ 
ments in the Constitution of this State, and to carry the same into 
complete effect, it is hereby ordained and declared : 

Section 1 . That all laws in force at the adoption of this Consti¬ 
tution, not inconsistent therewith, shall remain in full force until 
altered or repealed by the General Assembly ; and all rights, actions, 
prosecutions, claims and contracts of the State, counties, individ¬ 
uals or bodies corporate, not inconsistent therewith, shall continue 
to be as valid as if this Constitution had not been adopted. The 
provisions of all laws which are inconsistent with this Constitution, 
shall cease upon its adoption, except that all laws which are incon¬ 
sistent with such provisions of this Constitution, as require legisla¬ 
tion to enforce them, shall remain in force until the first day of 
July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, unless sooner 
amended or repealed, by the General Assembly. 

Sec. 2. That all recognizances, obligations and all other instru¬ 
ments, entered into or executed before the adoption of this Consti¬ 
tution, to this State or to anj r subdivision thereof, or any munici¬ 
pality therein; and all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures, due 
or owing to this State, or any such subdivision or municipality; and 
all writs, prosecutions, actions and causes of action, except as herein 
otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the 
adoption of this Constitution. All indictments which shall have 
been found or may hereafter be found, for any crime or offense com¬ 
mitted before this Constitution takes effect, may be proceeded upon 
as if no change had taken place, except as otherwise provided in 
this Constitution. 

Sec. 3. All county and probate courts as now constituted and 
organized, shall continue with their jurisdiction, until the General 
Assembly shall by law conform them in their organization to the 
requirements of this Constitution. 





110 


SCHEDULE. 


Sec. 4. All criminal courts organized and existing under the 
laws of this State, and not specially provided for in this Constitution, 
shall continue to exist until otherwise provided by law. 

Sec. 5. All courts of common pleas existing and organized in 
cities and towns having a population exceeding three thousand five 
hundred inhabitants, and such as by the law of their creation are 
presided over by a judge of a circuit court, shall continue to exist 
and exercise their present jurisdiction, until otherwise provided by 
law. All other courts of common pleas shall cease to exist at 
the expiration of the present terms of office of the several judges 
thereof. 

Sec. 6 . All persons now filling any office or appointment in this 
State, shall continue in the exercise of the duties thereof, according 
to their respective commissions or appointments, unless otherwise 
provided by law. 

Sec. 7. Upon the adoption of this Constitution, all appeals to, 
and writs of error from the Supreme Court, shall be returnable to 
the Supreme Court of the City of Jefferson. 

Sec. 8. Until the General Assembly shall make provision for 
the payment of the State and railroad indebtedness of this State, in 
pursuance of section fourteen of Article X. of this Constitution, 
there shall be levied and collected an annual tax of one-fifth of one 
per centum on all real estate and other property and effects subject 
to taxation, the proceeds of which shall be applied to the payment of 
the interest on the bonded debt of this State as it matures, and the 
surplus, if any, shall be paid into the Sinking Fund, and thereafter 
applied to the payment of such indebtedness, and to no other pur¬ 
pose . 

Sec. 9. This Constitution shall be submitted to the people of 
this State for adoption or rejection, at an election to be held for that 
purpose only, on Saturday, the thirtieth day of October, one thou¬ 
sand eight hundred and seventy-five. Every person entitled to vote 
under the Constitution and laws of this State shall be entitled to 
vote for the adoption or rejection of this Constitution. Said elec¬ 
tion shall be held, and said qualified electors shall vote at the usual 
places of voting in the several counties of this State; and said 
election shall be conducted, and returns thereof made, according to 
the laws now in force regulating general elections. 



SCHEDULE. 


Ill 


Sec. 10. The clerks of the several county courts in this State, 
shall, at least five days before said election, cause to be delivered to 
the judges of election in each election district or precinct, in their 
respective counties, suitable blank poll-books, forms of return and 
five times the number of properly prepared printed ballots for said 
election, that there are voters in said respective districts, the expense 
whereof shall be allowed and paid by the several county courts, as 
other county expenditures are allowed and paid. 

Sec. 11. At said election the ballots shall be in the following 
form : New Constitution ticket, (erase the clause you do not favor.) 
New Constitution—Yes. New Constitution—No. Each of said 
tickets shall be counted as a vote for or against this Constitution, 
as the one clause or the other may be cancelled with ink or pencil 
by the voter, and returns thereof shall be made accordingly. If 
both clauses of the ticket be erased, or if neither be erased, the 
ticket shall not be counted. 

Sec. 12. The returns of the whole vote cast for the adoption 
and against the adoption of this Constitution, shall be made by the 
several clerks, as now provided by law in case of the election of 
State officers, to the Secretary of State, within twenty days after 
the election ; and the returns of said votes shall, within ten days 
thereafter, be examined and canvassed by the State Auditor, State 
Treasurer and Secretary of State, or any two of them, in the pres¬ 
ence of the Governor, and proclamation shall be made by the Gov¬ 
ernor forthwith of the result of the canvass. 

Sec. 13. If, upon such canvass, it shall appear that a majority 
of the votes polled were in favor of the new Constitution, then this 
Constitution shall, on and after the thirtieth day of November, one 
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, be the supreme law of the 
State of Missouri, and the present existing Constitution shall there¬ 
upon cease in al! its provisions; but if it shall appear that a 
majority of the votes polled were against the new Constitution, then 
this Constitution shall be null and void, and the existing Constitu¬ 
tion shall continue in force. 

Sec. 14. The provisions of this schedule required to be exe¬ 
cuted prior to the adoption or rejection of this Constitution, shall 
take effect and be in force immediately. 





112 


SCHEDULE. 


Sec. 15. The General Assembly shall pass all such laws as may 
be necessary to carry this Constitution into full effect. 

Sec. 16 . The present Secretary of State, State Auditor, Attor¬ 
ney General, and Superintendent of Public Schools, shall, during 
the remainder of their terms of office, unless otherwise directed by 
law, receive the same compensation and fees as is now provided by 
law; and the present State Treasurer shall, during the remainder of 
the term of his office, continue to be governed by existing law, in 
the custody and disposition of the State funds, unless otherwise 
directed by law. 

Sec. 17. Section twelve of [the] Bill of Rights shall not be so 
construed as to prevent arrests and preliminary examination in any 
criminal case. 

Done in Convention, at the Capitol, in the City of Jefferson, on 
the second day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand 
eight hundred and seventy-five, and of the Independence of the 
United States the one hundredth. 



ORDINANCE. 


113 


AN ORDINANCE 

TO PREVENT THE PAYMENT OF 1,918 BONDS AND THEIR COUPONS, 
WHICH HAVE BEEN ALREADY REDEEMED BY 
THE STATE OF MISSOURI. 

Be it ordained by the People of Missouri , in Convention assembled: 

That the General Assembly of the State of Missouri shall have 
no power to make any appropriation of money, or in any manner, 
directly or indirectly, to provide for the payment of any one of 
nineteen hundred and eighteen (1,918) bonds, or the coupons 
attached thereto, each for the sum of one thousand dollars, and 
seven per cent, interest, payable semi-annually, the principal payable 
twenty years after January 1, 1856, executed by the Pacific Rail¬ 
road of the State of Missouri, under authority of an act of the Gen¬ 
eral Assembly of Missouri, passed December 10, 1855, and guar¬ 
anteed by the State of Missouri, the numbers of which bonds are 
as follows : Bonds numbered from 1 to 370, inclusive of both; 375 
to 395, inclusive of both; 397 to 474, inclusive of both; 493, 535, 
536, 542, 543, 547, 554, 557, 558, 559, 585 to 589, inclusive of 
both; 592 to 596, inclusive of both; 601 to 622, inclusive of both; 
624 to 701, inclusive of both; 709, 717 to 722, inclusive of both; 
724, 725, 726, 732, 733, 734, 835, 836, 837, 841, 842, 843, 844, 
845, 849, 850, 851, 868, 869, 882 to 889, inclusive of both; 891 to 
898, inclusive of both; 902, 904, 971 to 1,001, inclusive of both; 
1,028, 1,041 to 1,050, inclusive of both; 1,080, 1,084, 1,085, 1,086, 
1,109,1,110, 1,146,1,150, 1,153, 1,181,1,183,1,186 to 1,212, inclu¬ 
sive of both ; 1,228, 1,281 to 1,293, inclusive of both ; 1,300, 1,343, 
1,412, 1,418 to 1,436, inclusive of both; 1,484, 1,501 to 1,512, 
inclusive of both; 1,583, 1,584, 1,597 to 1,601, inclusive of both; 
1,659 to 1,662, inclusive of both ; 1,664, 1,720, 1,829, 1,836, 1,851 
to 1,861, inclusive of both; <1,864 to 1,869, inclusive of both; 
1,876 to 1,886, inclusive of both ; 1,892 to 1,897, inclusive of both; 
1,926 to 1,943, inclusive of both ; 1,946 to 1,951, inclusive of both ; 
1,954, 1,956, 1,957, 1,959, 1,960, 1,971, 1,972, 1,973, 1,976 to 
1,990, inclusive of both ; 1,992 to 1,998, inclusive of both; 2,000, 
2,011, 2,012, 2,013, 2,018, 2,029, 2,030, 2,044 to 2,046, inclusive 





114 


ORDINANCE. 


of both; 2,074 to 2,077, inclusive of both; 2,081 to 2,087, inclu¬ 
sive of both; 2,096, 2,097, 2,143, 2,144, 2,152 to 2,166, inclusive 
of both; 2,211 to 2,215, inclusive of both; 2,221 to 2,240, inclu¬ 
sive of both; 2,273 to 2,481, inclusive of both; 2,483 to 2,493, 
inclusive of both; 2,496 to 2,500, inclusive of both; 2,502, 2,506, 
2,544 to 2,550, inclusive of both; 2,552, 2,555 to 2,577, inclusive 
of both; 2,601 to 2,607, inclusive of both; 2,609 to 2,621, inclu¬ 
sive of both ; 2,633, 2,654 to 2,693, inclusive of both ; 2,698, 2,699, 
2,711 to 2,730, inclusive of both ; 2,761, 2,763, 2,764, 2,765, 2,767, 
2,768, 2,769, 2,771 to 2,775, inclusive of both ; 2,787, 2,788, 2,790, 
2,845, 2,852 to 2,870, inclusive of both ; 2,882 to 2,900, inclusive 
of both; 2,902, 2,903, 2,915, 2,921 to 2,983, inclusive of both; 
2,985, 3,006, 3,007, 3,022 to 3,043, inclusive of both; 3,047 to 
3,071, inclusive of both; 3,073 to 3,082, inclusive of both; 3,085 
to 3,107, inclusive of both; 3,132, 3,143 to 3,214, inclusive of 
both; 3,299 to 3,348, inclusive of both; 3,373 to 3,483, inclusive 
of both; 3,488 to 3,500, inclusive of both; 3,601 to 3,686, inclu¬ 
sive of both; 3,690 to 3,800, inclusive of both; which bonds have 
been redeemed by the State of Missouri, deposited as securities 
available to the State in dealing with the Pacific Railroad, in the 
vault of the treasury, and while the same were in said vault, with¬ 
drawn from circulation as negotiable instruments, were criminally 
taken therefrom. 

This ordinance shall become part of the organic law, if the 
Constitution be adopted by the people on the 30th of October, 1875. 






NOTE. 


115 


NOTE. 

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of The 
United States (including copious reference notes) are from the 
official edition of “ The Revised Statutes of the United States,” 
with the imprint of the Government Printing Office, Washington. 

That volume was authorized by an Act of Congress and is fully" 
certified to by Wm. M. Evarts, Secretary of State, and prepared by 
Special Commissioner Geo. S. Boutwell. Particular care has been 
taken to adhere to that text in punctuation, orthography, and the 
profuse capitalization. 

The copy used for the Constitution of the State of Missouri is 
taken from the official edition , as printed by Regan & Carter, State 
Printers, Jefferson City, Mo. Due diligence has been exercised to 
ensure accuracy in our reprint. 


The Compiler. 









Index to Constitution State of Missouri. 


SEC. PAGE. 

Preamble.. 47 

ARTICLE I. 

Boundaries. 47 

ARTICLE II. 

Bill of Rights. [That is a list of Rights and Privileges.]. 47 

Origin of Power in the People. 1 48 

Inherent, State and Natural Rights. 2-4 48 

Rights of Conscience. 5 48 

Religion Maintained Voluntarily. 6 48 

Public Money Not to be Used to Support Religion. 7 49 

Religious Corporations—Restricted. 8 49 

Freedom of Elections. 9 49 

Injuries—How Remedied. 10 49 

Security from Search and Seizures. 11 49 

Criminal Prosecution. 12 49 

Treason—Defined. 13 49 

Freedom of Speech. 14 50 

Ex Post Facto Laws. 15 50 

Imprisonment for Debt. 16 50 

Right to Bear Arms—Concealed Weapons. 17 50 

Incumbents of Office Must Perform Duties of Same. 18 50 

Collectors’ or Receivers’ Accountability. 19 50 

Private Property. 20 50 

Safeguards. 21 51 

Criminal Prosecutions—Bail.22-25 51 

Habeas Corpus. 26 52 

Civil Power Higher than Military. 27 52 

Jury Trials. 28 52 

People’s Right of Petition. 29 52 

Liberty of the Person. 30 52 

Slavery—Except. 81 52 

Rights not Enumerated. 32 52 

































118 


INDEX TO CONSTITUTION STATE OF MISSOURI 


ARTICLE III. 

SEC. PAGE 

Powers of Government Distributed. 52 

ARTICLE IV. 

Legislative Department. 53 

Representation and Representatives—Senators—Districts.1-11 53 

Eligibility of Senators, of Representatives—Oath Required—Com¬ 
pensation. 12-16 57 

Organization of the House—Quorum—Time of Meeting—Ad¬ 
journment.17-23 59 

Legislative Proceedings.24-42 60 

Limitation on Legislative Power. 43-51 64 

ARTICLE V. 

Executive Department. 69 

ARTICLE VI. 

Judicial Department Vested in the Following Courts: 

Supreme Court, St. Louis Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts, Crim¬ 
inal Courts, Probate Courts, County Courts, Municipal Courts 1 74 

Of the Supreme Court. 2-10 74 

Of the Court of Appeals.11-21 75 

Circuit Courts and Qualifications of Judges of All Courts.22-33 7S 

Probate Courts.34-35 SO 

County Courts. 36 80 

Justices of the Peace. 37 go 

Miscellaneous Provisions.38-44 80 

ARTICLE VII. 

Impeachment. 82 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Suffrage and Elections. 82 

Time for Elections. 1 8 2 

Who May Vote. 2 82 

Elections by Ballot. 3 33 

Voters Exempt from Arrest—When. 4 33 

Registration. 5 g 3 

Viva Voce Elections. 6 83 

Residence Qualifications. 7 gg 

Disfranchised Persons. 8 , 10 11 84 

Contested Elections. 9 gq 

Incumbents of Office—Qualifications. ]2 gq 































INDEX TO CONSTITUTION STATE OF MISSOURI. 119 


ARTICLE IX. 

SEC. PAGE. 

Counties, Cities and Towns. 84 

St. Louis Scheme and Charter. 20 90 

ARTICLE X. 

Revenue and Taxation. 92 

Taxing Powers—Where Vested. 1-3 92 

Object of Taxation—Subject to Taxation—What is Exempt from 

Taxation. 4-6 92 

Limitations on Taxation. 7-10 93 

Rate of Taxation.•. 11 93 

Limit of Indebtedness of Political Corporations or Subdivisions of 

State. 12 94 

Private Property not Liable for Corporate Debt. 13 95 

Repeal of Ordinance, Sinking Fund, Etc. 14 95 

Moneys in the Treasury of the State, to be Deposited in Bank— 

Disbursed—How. 15 95 

Treasurer Shall Account, Etc. 16 96 

Misuse of Public Money—A Felony. 17 96 

Board of Equalization. 18 96 

Moneys Disbursed only when Appropriation is Made. 19 96 

Proceeds of Loans to be Applied only for Specific Purposes. 20 97 

Corporations When Organized—Required to Make Payment to 

State Treasury. 21 97 

ARTICLE XI. 

Education... 97 

Public Schools Established. 1 97 

Maintenance of Schools. 2 97 

Separate Schools for Children of African Descent. 3 97 

Board of Education. 4 97 

State University. 5 98 

Proceeds of Certain Lands, Stocks, Bonds, Etc., shall Constitute a 

Public School Fund. 6 98 

Supplemental Support from State Revenues. 7 98 

County School Funds. 8 99 

Limitation on Investments of Public School Funds. 9 99 

County School Funds May be Loaned. 10 99 

Public Funds may not be Appropriated to Support Sectarian Pur¬ 
poses or Institutions. 11 99 

ARTICLE XII. 

Corporations. 100 

Railroads. 12-24 101 

Banks.25-27 104 



































120 

INDEX TO CONSTITUTION STATE OF MISSOURI. 


Militia. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

SEC. PAGE. 

. 105 ‘ 


ARTICLE XIV. 


Miscellaneous Provisions. 106 

ARTICLE XV. 


Amending the Constitution. 

Schedule. 

Ordinance to Prevent the Payment of Certain Bonds 


107 

109 

113 































































































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